1^,1 


M 


■I 


tl  >  U 


J2L  .  / 


BR  477  .B34  1855 
Baird,  Robert,  1768-1863. 
The  Christian  retrospect  ai 
register 


/^: 


THE 


CHRISTIAN 
EETEOSPECT  AND  EEGISTER: 

A    SUMMARY    OF 

THE  SCIENTIFIC,  MOML  AXD  RELIGIOUS  PEOGRESS 

OF  THE 

FIRST  HALF  OF  THE  XIXTH  CENTURY. 


WITH  A  SUPPLEMENT, 

BEINGING    THE    WORK    DOWN    TO    THE    PRESENT    TIME. 


BY    ROBERT    BAIRD. 


NEAV    YOEK: 
PUBLISHED    BY    M.    W.    DODD^ 

Corner  of  Spruce  St.  and  City  Hall  Square. 

1855. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  .1855 

SY       OHN    BEACH. 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


INTRODUCTION, 


In  the  early  part  of  last  winter,  we  were  requested  by  a 
friend/'''  to  engage  to  prepare  annually,  if  the  proper  encour- 
agenaent  should  be  secured,  a  volume  of  some  400  duodeci- 
mo pages,  which  should  contain  a  resume,  or  summary,  of  all 
that  relates  to  the  Progress  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  this 
world,  as  well  as  of  what  has  a  direct  bearing  on  the  most 
important  interests  of  mankind. 

After  much  reflection,  and  with  no  little  reluctance,  we 
agreed  to  undertake  the  task,  and  begin  with  the  year 
1851.  This  would  have  given  us  the  entire  year  for  the 
preparation  of  the  first  volume.  But  we  had  no  sooner 
given  our  consent  to  attempt  the  work  proposed  than 
an  earnest  application  was  made  to  us  to  prepare  a  pre- 
liminary volume,  which  should  give  a  review  of  what  had 
been  done  during  the  first  fifty  years  of  this  century.  And, 
although   it  was  extremely  inconvenient  for  us  to  take  upon 

*  Rev.  John  Beach,  of  Michigan,  who  has  taken  a  great  interest  in 
the  enterprise. 


17  INTRODUCTION. 

US  such  a  ^York,  situated  as  we  were,  and  enjoying  very 
imperfect  health,  we  set  about  the  enterprise  in  the  early 
days  of  March,  and  (through  God's  blessing)  we  have  been 
able  to  get  through  it.  The  reader  will  find  that  the  work 
is  divided  into  two  Parts.  The  first  relates  to  the  progress 
of  Mankind  in  what  may,  in  a  general  sense,  be  called  their 
Material  Interests.  This  portion  of  the  volume  is  divided 
into  eight  chapters,  and  these  again  into  sections. 

For  all  of  the  Vth,  Vlth,  Vllth  and  Vlllth  chapters  of 
this  part  of  the  book,  the  reader,  as  well  as  ourselves,  is  in- 
debted to  the  Kev.  Benjamin  N.  Martin,  of  Albany.  They  will 
be  found  admirably  written,  and  all  that  could  be  desired 
in  a  work  of  this  nature,  and  so  limited  in  extent. 

The  second  Part  relates  to  what  we  have  denominated 
the  Progress  in  the  Moral  and  Religious  Interests 
which  the  world  has  made  during  the  period  under  con- 
sideration. 

It  has  been  our  aim  to  prepare  a  volume  which  might 
be  read  with  interest  and  profit  by  all  who  desired  to 
know  something  of  the  advance  which  has  been  made 
during  the  first  half  of  the  XlXth  century  in  that  which  has 
a  bearing  upon  the  temporal  well-being  of  the  Human 
race,  as  well  as  in  what  relates  to  the  enlargement  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah.  As  the  work  has  been  written 
for  popular  use — for  the  benefit  rather  of  those  who  have 
not  time  to  read  numerous  and  not  easily  found  books, 
numerous  reports  of  Societies,  religious  journals,  etc., — nei- 
ther  great  detail,  nor   extended  research,   will   be   expected. 


INTRODUCTION.  V 

In  the  chapters  relating  to  Science,  the  appUcations  of 
Science,  etc.,  all  that  could  be  attempted  was  to  speak  of 
those  things  which  possess  the  most  importance,  and  which 
are  more  easily  understood  by  the  ordinary  reader. 

The  work  is  entirely  Protestant  in  its  character,  and  re- 
lates to  the  progress  of  Protestantism  in  the  world, — for 
the  author  regards  true  Protestantism  as  identical,  if  not 
synonymous,  with   true    Christianity. 

It  only  remains  to  say  that,  from  the  nature  of  the  case 
many  movements  to  which  some  persons  attach  no  little 
importance,  could  not  be  treated  in  this  volume ; — some 
because  of  their  comparative  want  of  merit;  some  be- 
cause it  is  not  clear  that  they  have  had,  or  will  have, 
the  influence  which  their  advocates  claim  for  them,  upon 
the  best  interests,  temporal  or  spiritual,  of  mankind ;  and 
some  because  the  size  of  the  volume  would  not  allow  of 
their  being  introduced.  We  trust,  however,  that  whatever  is 
of  intrinsical  importance  in  its  nature,  or  has  an  eflfective 
bearing  on  the  subjects  treated  in  this  work,  will  be  here 
found  set  forth  as  fully  as  our  limits  would  allow. 

New  York,  Mq-ij  ^tli,  1851. 


PREFACE   TO  THE  FIFTH  EDITION. 


In  the  Sjjring  of  1851,  the  author  was  induced  to  pre- 
pare the  following  work ;  containing  a  survey  of  the  progress 
of  the  world  in  its  material  and  religious  interests  during  the 
first  half  of  the  XlXth  century.  Several  thousand  copies  of 
that  work  were  sold  in  the  course  of  1851-52.  For  more 
than  a  year  it  has  been  out  of  print,  inasmuch  as  the  author 
was  unwilling  to  have  it  re-printed  without  an  additional  chap- 
ter, bringing  down  the  work  to  the  latest  date  possible.  It 
has  only  been  within  a  few  weeks  that  his  official  labors  have 
allowed  him  to  execute  that  task,  which  he  has  endeavored  to 
do  as  well  as  circumstances  would  permit.  Perfect  accuracy 
in  such  statistics  as  the  Supplement  contains,  is  scarcely  at- 
tainable. He  trusts  the  work  will  meet  with  the  Divine  favor 
and  be  useful.  It  is  proper  to  say  that  it  is  intended  for  pop- 
ular use — for  the  use  of  those  who  have  neither  time  nor  in- 
clination to  read  more  extensive  works  on  the  subject. 
New  York,  August  lY,  1854. 


CONTENTS. 


PART    I. 

CHAPTER   I. 

?AQE 

POLITICAL    CHANGES     OF    THE     FIRST    HALF    OF    THE    l^INE- 

TEENTH    CENTURY,.  .  .  .  .  .  .13 

§  1.  In  Europe, .15 

§  2.  In  the  rest  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere,    ...  21 

§  3.  In  North  America, 24 

^  4.  In  South  America, 32 

§  5.  In  the  West  Indies, 35 

CHAPTER  II. 

PROGRESS    OF    POLITICAL    LIBERTY    DURING    THE    FIRST  HALF  OF 
THE    NINETEENTH     CENTURY. 

§  1.     Eastern  Hemisphere, 87 

§  2.     "Western  Hemisphere, 40 

I  3.     Present  State  of  the  World, 40 

CHAPTER   HI. 

PROGRESS    OF    EDUCATION COMMON-SCHOOLS,    COLLEGES,    ETC. 

§  1.     United  States 43 

I  2.     Other  Countries  in  America, 48 

§  3.     Eastern  Hemisphere, 49 

§  4.     Asia  and  Africa, 55 

CHAPTER  IV. 

FREEDOM     OF     THE     PRESS ITS    PROGRESS NEWSPAPERS    AND 

OTHER     FORMS     OF    PERIODICAL    INFORMATION     AND    LITERA- 
TURE. 

§  1.    America — the  United  States, 57 

§  2.    Other  Parts  of  America, .64 


VIU 


CONTENTS. 


3.  Europe, 

4.  Asia,  Africa,  and  the  Islands,   . 


PAGE 
65 

71 


CHAPTER  V. 


HISTORICAL    SKETCH    OF    SCIENCE    IN    THE    FIRST    HALF    OF    THE 


NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 

8    1.  Astronomy, 

I    2.  Optics, 

§    3.  Meteorology,     • 

§    4.  Geograpliy, 

§    5.  Pliysical  Geography, 

§    6.  General  Chemistry  and  Electricity, 

§    7.  General  Chemistry — Magnetism, 

§    8.  General  Chemistry — Galvanism, 

§    9.  Chemistry  Proper 

§  10.  Mineralogy, 

I  11.  Geology,  . 

§12.  Botany,     . 

§13.  Zoology,    . 

I  14.  Moral  Aspect  of  Science, 


74 
81 


90 

92 

94 

97 

100 

109 

112 

117 

120 

126 


CHAPTER  VI. 

APPLIED    SCIENCE. 


1.  Medicine,  . 

2.  Agriculture, 

3.  Telegraphs, 


128 
135 
141 


CHAPTER  VH. 


PROGRESS    IN   THE    ARTS    OF    INTERCOMMUNICATION. 


Steam  Navigation, 
Railroads, 


149 
154 


CHAPTER  Vni. 

BOCIAL    PROGRESS    IN    THE     FIRST    HALF     OF    THE    NINETEENTH 
CENTURY. 

§  L    History  of  Jurisprudence, 166 

8  2.     The  Post  Office 178 

8  3.    Mechanic  Arts, 182 


CONTENTS.  IX 

PART    II. 

CHAPTER  I. 

ENLARGEMENT    OF    CHRISTENDOM    DURING    THE    FIRST    HALF    OF 
THE    NINETEENTH     CENTURY. 

PAGE 

§  1.     Eastern  Hemisphere, 189 

§  2.     Western  Hemisphere, 194 


CHAPTER  II. 

PROGRESS    OF    RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY. 

1.  "Western  Hemisphere,       .         ; 202 

2.  Eastern  Hemisphere, 207 


CHAPTER   III. 

PROGRESS    OF    EVANGELICAL    CHRISTIANITY.  f 

1.  "Western  Hemisphere, 218 

2.  Eastern  Hemisphere, 223 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SOCIETIES    FOR    THE    DIFFUSION    OF    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

§  \,     Great  Britain, 227 

§  2.     Other  Countries  of  Em-ope, 233 

§  3.    Asia,         .      _ 235 

§  4.     Western  Hemisphere, 236 

§  5.    List  of  Bible  Societies, 242 


CHAPTER  V. 

SOCIETIES    FOR   THE    CIRCULATION    OF    RELIGIOUS   BOOKS. 

}  1.     Great  Britain, 247 

;  2.     Other  Countries  in  Europe, 252 

J  3.    The  United  States, 254 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SOCIETIES    FOR    HOME    EVANGELIZATION. 

1.  American  Home  Missionary  Society,         ....     269 

2.  Other  Societies  in  the  United  States,        .        .        .        .262 

1^ 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

8  3.     England  and  Ireland, 262 

§  4.     Scotland, 265 

§  6.     The  Coulinent, 268 


CHAPTER   VIL 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL    SOCIETIES. 

§  1.     England  and  Ireland, 272 

§  2.     United  States, 273 


CHAPTER  VHI. 


EDUCATIONAL   SOCIETIES. 


§  1.     United  States, 276 

§  2.     Europe, 278 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    TEMPERANCE    REFORMATION. 

1.  "Western  Hemisphere, 280 

2.  Eastern  Hemisphere, 282 


CHAPTER   X. 

AMERICAN    COLONIZATION    SOCIETY,  ....       285 

CHAPTER   XI. 

EVANGELIZATION    OF    PAPAL    COUNTRIES,  .  ,  .       290 

CHAPTER  XH. 

MISSIONARY  EFFORTS  PREVIOUS  TO  THE  XIXTH  CENTURY,    .       295 

CHAPTER   XHI. 

SOCIETY    FOR    THE     PROPAGATION     OF     THE     GOSPEL     IN 


FOREIGN   PARTS, 


300 


CONTENTS.  XI 


CHAPTER  Xiy. 

PAGE 

ENGLISH    BAPTIST    MISSIONARY     SOCIETY,  .  .  .       303 


CHAPTER  XV. 

LONDON    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY, 311 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

CHURCH    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY,  .  .  .  .  .321 

CHAPTER  XVH. 

ENGLISH    WESLEYAN    METHODIST    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY,      .       330 

CHAPTER   XVni. 

MISSIONS    OF    THE    SCOTTISH    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCHES,     .       338 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

FRENCH,    RHENISH,    AND    BASLE    MISSIONARY    SOCIETIES,    .       344 

CHAPTER  XX. 

MISSIONS    OF    THE    UNITED    BRETHREN    AND    THE    SMALLER 

GERMAN    SOCIETIES, 351 

CHAPTER   XXI. 

AMERICAN    BOARD  OF    COMMISSIONERS    FOR    FOREIGN  MIS- 
SIONS,  360 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

AMERICAN    BAPTIST   MISSIONARY   UNION,  .  .  .368 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

PAGB 

BOARD    OF    FOREIGN     MISSIONS     OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN 

CHURCH, 373 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

BOARD  OF  FOREIGN    MISSIONS    OF    THE    PROTESTANT  EPIS- 
COPAL   CHURCH, 378 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    MISSIONARY   SOCIETY,  .  .  .383 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

SMALLER   AMERICAN    MISSIONARY    SOCIETIES,    .  .  .387 

CHAPTER  XXVn. 

SOCIETIES    FOR   EVANGELIZING    THE    JEWS,        .  .  .      391 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

CONCLUSION    AND    SUMMARY, 393 

SUPPLEMENT. 

PART  I. PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORLD  IN  REGARD  TO  NAT- 
URAL INTERESTS,    .....   397 

PART  II. RELIGIOUS  PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORLD  SINCE  THE 

YEAR  1850,   ......   400 

APPENDIX, *  .     .   419 

INDEX, '^ST 


CHRISTIAN  RETROSPECT  AND  REGISTER. 


CHAPTER  I. 

POLITICAL   CHANGES   OF  THE  FIEST  HALF  OP  THE 
NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 

The  close  of  the  XVIIIth  century  left  Europe  in  a  state  of 
extreme  political  agitation, — the  influence  of  which  was,  in  fact, 
felt  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  to  the  remotest  boundaries  of  the 
Civilized  World.  The  history  of  the  last  quarter  of  that  cen- 
tury is  unsurpassed  in  interest  by  that  of  any  preceding  period 
of  equal  length  in  the  annals  of  Mankind.  Within  it  occurred 
two  Revolutions  which  will  leave  their  impress  upon  the  desti- 
nies of  the  human  race  in  all  coming  time. 

In  the  New  World  the  Revolution  of  1775-83, — itself  one 
of  the  glorious  fruits,  as  was  the  existence  of  the  nation  which 
it  made  free,  of  the  Great  Reformation  of  the  XVIth  century, — 
gave  independence  and  a  repubhcan  form  of  government  to 
THE  United  States  of  North  America.  In  the  Old  World, 
the  Revolution  of  1789  in  France, — which  was,  in  some  re- 
spects, an  effect  of  that  which  had  just  occurred  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere, — was  the  first  of  a  great  series  of  overturnings 
in  the  nations,  of  which,  no  prophet  has  arisen  to  tell  us  either 
the  number,  the  extent,  or  the  duration.  All  Europe  was  con- 
vulsed to  its  centre.  In  that  great  struggle  the  Throne  and  the 
Altar  went  down  together  in  the  country  where  it  commenced, 


14  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

to  be  followed  in  succession  Ly  the  Triumvirate  and  the  reign 
of  Atheism,  the  Directory  and  the  reign  of  Deism,  the  Consulate 
and  the  reign  of  Military  Despotism. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when  the  present  century  was 
about  to  open.  On  the  North  American  Continent,  with  the 
exception  of  some  unimportant  collisions  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Aborigines,  and  a  brief  naval  war  between  that 
country  and  France,  which  was  coming  to  a  close,  all  was  quiet. 
JN'or  was  South  America  agitated  by  war.  The  great  countries 
on  that  Continent  which  were  in  the  possession  of  nations  of  Eu- 
ropean origin,  were  submissive  colonies  of  Spain  and  Portugal. 

In  Europe,  France,  which  a  few  years  previously  had,  with  tre- 
mendous energy,  driven  the  hostile  armies  that  had  invaded  her 
territory  from  all  quarters,  but  had  afterwards  lost  ground  al- 
most everywhere  through  the  incapacity  of  the  men  who  were 
in  power,  was  just  entering  upon  her  wonderful  career  of  victory 
and  of  conquest.  The  "  Man  of  Destiny,"  as  he  has  been  called, 
had  returned  from  his  romantic  expedition  to  Egypt  and  the 
East,  and  the  Revolution  of  18th  Brumaire  (Nov.  9th,  1*799) 
liad  made  him  First  Consul,  with  Sieyes  and  Ducos  as  his  col- 
leagues. The  influence  of  this  change  was  magical.  An  ef- 
fective government  was  speedily  established,  which  restored 
oi  dor  throughout  all  portions  of  that  country ;  whilst  abroad, 
her  fii'mies  once  more  marched  to  victory  in  all  directions. 
The  battles  of  Montebello  (June  10th),  and  Marengo  (June 
14th,  1800),  reestablished  the  overwhelming  influence  of  the 
French  in  the  northern  and  middle  parts  of  Italy  ;  whilst  that 
of  Ilohenlinden,  on  the  3d  of  December  following,  opened  Ger- 
many to  the  conqueror,  and  compelled  the  proud  House  of 
Hapsburg  to  accept  the  terms  of  peace  which  Napoleon  dic- 
tated at  the  Treaty  of  Luneville. 


AND    KEGISTEK.  15 

SECTION   I. 

POLITICAL    CHANGES    IN    EUROPE    SINCE    THE    YEAR    1830. 

The  aspect  of  Euroj^e  at  the  dawn  of  the  present  century  was 
exceedingly  various.  In  the  Centre,  Germany  was  reduced  to 
the  necessity  of  accepting  the  peace  which  was  forced  upon  her 
at  the  Treaty  (Feb.,  1801)  just  named  ;  whilst  in  the  South, 
French  domination  was  fast  pressing  the  government  of  Naples 
to  a  state  of  desperation ;  and  in  the  North,  the  thunders  of 
British  cannon  at  Copenhagen  (April  2d),  in  conjunction  with 
violence  in  the  Palace  of  the  Czars,  dissolved  "  the  Armed 
Neutrality."  Nevertheless,  the  demand  of  Humanity  for  the 
cessation  of  the  murderous  strife  which  had  convulsed  that 
portion  of  the  world  for  the  preceding  decade  of  years,  was 
heard,  and  the  Treaty  of  Amiens  (March  27th,  1802)  restored 
peace  for  a  while  to  England,  France,  Spain  and  Holland. 

But  this  happy  period  was  of  short  duration.  The  war  was 
renewed.  Napoleon,  who  had  been  crowned  Emperor  of  France 
(Dec.  2d,  1804),  prepared  to  invade  England.  But  he  was 
soon  compelled  to  adjourn  the  attempt,  in  order  to  look  after 
Austria.  The  great  victory  of  Austerlitz  (Dec.  2d,  1805)  again 
humbled  Southern  Germany  ;  and  the  battles  of  Jena,  Liibeck, 
Eylau  and  Friedland  in  1806  and  1807  prostrated  Northern 
Germany,  and  drove  the  Russians  back  to  their  own  vast  domain. 
England,  by  the  victory  of  Trafalgar  over  the  combined  fleets  of 
France  and  Spain  (Oct.  21st,  1805),  and  the  destruction  of  that 
of  Denmark  (Sept.  2d,  1807),  secured  her  ascendency  on  the 
ocean.  The  Treaty  of  Tilsit  (July  7th,  1807)  gave  a  short- 
lived peace  to  a  large  portion  of  the  Continent.  At  this  epoch 
the  sun  of  Napoleon  was  fcist  ascending  to  the  zenith.  For  a 
little  while  not  only  France,  but  Ital}^,  Spain,  Holland,  Germany, 
Poland,  Ptussia — in  a  word,  almost  the  entire  Continent — was 


16  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

subject  to  Lis  powerful  will.  But  soon  a  dark  and  lowering 
cloud  was  seen  in  the  horizon.  A  war  began  in  Spain,  which 
lasted  five  years,  and  ended  with  the  expulsion  of  the  French 
armies  from  that  country.  In  1800,  Napoleon  again  invaded 
Austria,  and  by  the  battle  of  Wagram  humbled  for  the  fourth 
time  the  House  of  Ilapsburg,  and  tore  from  the  brow  of  Austria 
the  proud  laurels  which  her  victories  for  three  centuries,  over  the 
Turks  and  other  nations  on  her  borders,  had  placed  there. 

The  disastrous, invasion  of  Russia  by  France,  in  1812,  not 
only  brought  those  two  great  povrers  into  collision,  but  involved 
almost  all  Europe.  The  invasion  of  Germany  by  France  in 
1813,  renewed  the  gigantic  struggle,  which  was  ended  by  the 
marching  of  the  combined  armies  of  Austria,  Prussia,  and 
Russia  to  the  gates  of  Paris,  the  abdication  of  Buonaparte,  and 
his  exile  in  the  Island  of  Elba.  Ilis  escape  from  that  island 
again  arrayed  all  Europe  in  arms  ;  but  the  "  Reign  of  One 
Hundred  Days"  was  ended  by  the  decisive  battle  of  Waterloo 
(June  18th,  1815),  which  sent  Napoleon  to  St.  Helena  (where  he 
died,  May  5th,  1821),  and  eleven  hundred  thousand  men,  who 
were  on  their  way  to  France,  back  to  their  homes. 

Since  1815  Europe  has  seen  no  general  wars.  Attempts 
were  made  at  Revolution  in  Italy  in  1820,  and  the  great  Powers 
intervened  in  Spain,  in  that  year,  and  by  means  of  French  ar- 
mies suppressed  the  popular  movement,  abolished  the  Cortes 
and  the  Constitution,  and  restored  the  despotism  of  Ferdi- 
nand Vllth. 

The  Russians  inarched  their  victorious  troops  across  the  Bal- 
kan mountains  to  the  gates  of  Adrianople,  in  the  year  1828, 
and  would  have  advanced  them  to  the  walls  of  Constantinople, 
if  the  other  great  Powers  had  consented.  By  this  war  Russia 
extended  her  border  from  the  Pruth  to  the  Danube. 

The  Revolution  in  Greece,  one  of  the  bloodiest  in  the  annals 
of  mankind,  lasted  from  1821  to  1828,  and  ended  in  the  inde- 
pendence of  that  country.     This  result  was  greatly  hastened  by 


AND    REGISTER.  1*7 

the  battle  of  Navaiino  (Oct.  20tb,  182'7),  by  which  the  com- 
bined fleets  of  England,  France,  and  Russia  destroyed  those  of 
Turkey  and  Egypt. 

In  France  a  dynastic  Kevolutiou  took  place  in  July,  1830,  by 
which  the  Duke  of  Orleans  (Louis  Philippe)  was  placed  on  the 
throne  of  Charles  Xth.  This  was  followed  by  a  Revolution 
(Sept.  233,  1830)  in  Belgium,  by  which  that  country  was 
severed  from  Holland,  with  which  it  had  been  united  since  1814. 

An  unfortunate  attempt  at  Revolution  in  Poland  was  made  in 
the  autumn  of  that  year,  and  after  prodigies  of  valor  had  been 
displayed  by  its  brave  inhabitants,  was  completely  suppressed  in 
the  year  following. 

In  the  year  1830,  France  conquered  Algeria,  and  has  main- 
tained her  dominion  in  that  land — although  it  cost  her  a  long 
war  with  Abd-el-kader. 

After  having  thrown  off  in  a  great  degree  the  authority  of 
the  Sultan,  and  conquered  Syria,  Mehemet  Ali,  Pasha  of  Egypt, 
prepared  to  invade  Turkey.  On  the  25th  of  June,  1839,  his 
son,  Ibrahim  Pasha,  gained  a  decisive  victory  over  the  Turks  at 
Nezib  ;  but  was  compelled  to  retreat  to  Egypt,  by  the  great 
Powers,  who  required  both  him  and  his  father  to  return  to  their 
allegiance  to  the  Sublime  Porte. 

In  the  year  1846  another  attem.pt  at  Revolution  was  made  in 
Poland, — chiefly  in  Gallicia,  or  Austrian  Poland, — which  had  a 
most  deplorable  issue.  More  than  sixteen  hundred  nobles  were 
cruelly  massacred  by  the  peasants,  or  tenants,  whom  the  Aus- 
trian Government,  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  counter-revolu- 
tion, incited  to  this  infamous  deed,  by  holding  out  to  them  the 
hope  of  gaining  the  possessions  of  these  landed  proprietors ! 
Still  more :  the  Government  of  Austria  availed  itself  of  the 
pretext  which  this  unfortunate  attempt  afforded  to  persuade 
Russia  and  Prussia  to  agree  to  the  annexation  of  the  Republic 
of  Cracow — lying  between  the  Pohsh  possessions  of  Russia,  /ius- 
tiia,  and  Prussia,  and  containing  140,000  inhabitants — to  the 


18  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Austrian  Empire,  in  utter  disregard  of  the  Treaty  of  Vienna,  by 
which  the  existence  of  that  Republic  was  guaranteed  not  only 
by  these  three  Powers,  but  also  by  England  and  France. 

But  the  year  1848  was  the  most  memorable  of  all  in  the  first 
half  of  the  XlXth  century.  A  Revolution  broke  out  at  Paris 
(the  22d  Feb.),  which  hurled  Louis  Philippe  from  the  throne 
of  France,  overthrew  the  monarchy,  and  led  to  the  substitution 
of  a  Republic  in  its  place.  This  great  and  sudden  movement 
precipitated  vast  changes  in  Italy  and  Germany,  of  whose  near 
approach  there  had  been,  for  three  or  four  years,  numerous  and 
most  unequivocal  indications.  In  the  former,  every  government 
seemed  for  a  while  to  be  on  the  point  of  becoming  Constitu- 
tional. At  one  time  there  was  the  prospect  that  all  the  Italian 
Powers  would  make  a  united  and  effective  effort  to  drive  the 
Austrians  out  of  Lombardy,  and  construct  a  Confederation  of 
States  in  that  long-oppressed  country.  The  King  of  Sardinia,  as 
being  the  only  monarch,  save  the  Pope,  who  was  truly  Italian 
by  descent,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  this  movement — a  task 
to  which  he  was  wholly  unequal.  Deserted  by  his  allies,  he  was 
driven  back  from  Lombardy,  defeated  at  the  battle  of  Novara 
(March  23d,  1849),  and  nothing  but  the  intervention  of  France 
and  England  saved  him  from  the  loss  of  a  portion  of  his  own 
patrimonial  possessions.  Overwhelmed  with  defeat  and  disap- 
pointment, he  abdicated  his  throne,  and  died  of  chagrin  (July 
28th,  1849),  at  the  city  of  Oporto,  in  Portugal. 

In  the  meanwhile,  Pope  Pius  Ninth,  who,  during  the  first 
two  years  of  his  reign  had  inspired  the  Romans  with  the  most 
sanguine  hopes,  refused  to  yield  to  the  demands  of  the  people 
for  Italian  nationality,  a  constituent  assembly  (to  form  a  consti- 
tution), and  a  new  ministry.  But  the  Quirinal  being  surrounded 
by  the  people,  and  his  prime  minister,  Sig.  Rossi,  having  been 
asbassinated,  his  Holiness  was  compelled  to  submit.  A  few 
days  later  (Nov.  24th,  184G,)  he  fled  in  the  livery  of  a  servant, 
to  Gaeta,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Naples.     Upon  his  refusing  to  re 


AND    REGISTER.  19 

turn,  a  Republic  was  proclaimed,  with  a  Triumvirate  at  its  head, 
of  which  Sig.  Mazzini  was  the  most  prominent  member.  This 
Repubhc  was  overthrown  by  a  French  army  (July  3d,  1849), 
under  General  Oudinot.  The  government  was  carried  on  by  a 
Triumvirate  of  Cardinals  until  the  Pope  returned  (April  12th, 
1850)  to  the  "Eternal  City,"  from  his  sojourn  in  exile,  at  Gaeta 
and  Portici,  of  more  than  fifteen  months.  For  the  present  all 
has  been  lost — save  the  liberal  ideas  which  many  able  newspa- 
pers diffused  in  Rome  and  throughout  Italy,  during  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Republic,  and,  above  all,  the  hidden  influence  of  the 
thousands  of  copies  of  the  Word  of  God  which  were  circulatift 
in  Rome  during  the  absence  of  his  Holiness.  The  despotism 
of  the  darkest  ages,  together  with  its  legitimate  auxiliary,  the 
Inquisition,  has  returned  to  the  "  City  on  the  Seven  Hills." 

As  might  be  expected,  the  reaction  has  extended  over  all 
Italy,  and  every  vestige  of  the  Constitutions  which  had  been 
made,  or  were  making  at  the  close  of  1848,  had  disappeared  by 
the  end  of  1850,  excepting  in  the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia,  where, 
we  are  happy  to  say,  that  a  Constitution  still  exists,  and  is  well 
administered  under  the  sceptre  of  the  young  monarch,  Victor 
Emanuel. 

Revolutions  broke  forth  almost  simultaneously  in  Vienna  and 
Berlin,  which  led  to  the  most  serious  consequences,  especially 
the  former.  The  Hungarians,  who  had  long  been  groaning 
under  the  intolerable  oppressiveness  of  the  Austrian  rule,  and 
who  were  prepared  to  act  with  promptitude,  renewed  and  urged 
their  just  demands  for  the  redress  of  their  grievances,  and  for  a 
more  national  and  equal  government.  Their  demands  were  at 
first  yielded  to  through  fear,  by  the  imbecile  Emperor  Ferdinand, 
and  afterwards  the  concession  was  retracted.  This  led  to  a 
bloody,  and,  to  them  in  the  end,  disastrous  war.  Driving  the 
Austrian  and  Croatian  troops  out  of  their  country,  they  were 
about  to  carry  their  victorious  arms  into  the  hereditary  dominions 
of  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  and  overthrow  the  Austrian  Empire 


20  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

itself,  when  Kussia  intervened.  With  her  overwhelming  armies, 
aided  by  domestic  treason,  she  annihilated,  for  the  present,  the 
hopes  of  Freedom  in  one  of  the  fairest  portions  of  Europe, 
whose  brave  inhabitants  had,  for  two  centuries  and  more,  formed 
a  rampart  to  protect  Christendom  and  civilization  against  the 
Mohammedan  fanaticism  and  fury  of  the  Turks.  And  Kossuth, 
like  Mazzini,  was  compelled  to  seek  safety  in  exile. 

In  Prussia,  a  constitution  was  granted  by  Frederick  William 
IVth,  and  is  now  in  operation.  And  although  Germany  is  still 
agitated,  the  issue  will  be,  it  is  probable,  that  something  hke  the 
Diet  which  Germany  had  from  1815  to  1848,  will  be  restored, 
and  that  the  influence  of  Austria  and  Prussia  will  be  paramount 
in  it. 

The  revolutionary  movement  of  1848, — which  affected,  in  all, 
some  seventeen  states  and  countries,  and  which  promised  at  one 
time  to  secure  constitutional  freedom  to  nearly  all  Europe,  has 
almost  completely  subsided.  And  although  the  reaction  has 
been  more  or  less  triumphant  everywhere,  we  are  far  from  hold- 
ing the  oj^inion  that  nothing  has  been  gained  for  liberty.  The 
nations  have  been  made,  to  some  extent,  to  know,  from  their 
recent  failures,  the  true  sources  of  their  weakness,  and  how  to 
overcome  it.  They  have  been  taught  that  they  have  their 
political  education  to  make ;  that  it  can  be  acquired  only  by 
painful  experience ;  and  that  it  is  only  through  suffering  that 
nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  can  be  prepared  for  the  acquisi- 
tion, appreciation,  and  enjoyment  of  the  greatest  blessings. 
Above  all,  they  have  been  made  to  see  that  in  this  great  strug- 
gle for  human  rights,  and  a  well-founded  freedom,  but  little  aid 
is  to  be  expected  from  Rome  oi;i  the  one  hand,  or  Infidelity  on 
the  other. 

We  will  conclude  this  notice  of  the  political  changes  which  have 
occurred  in  Europe  since  tlie  present  century  commenced,  with  the 
remark,  that  they  have  left  it  greatly  changed  in  some  respects. 
Norway  now  belongs  to  Sweden,  Finland  to  Russia ;  the  kingdoms 


AND    REGISTER.  21 

of  Poland  and  Hungary  exist  no  more,  the  former  being  absorbed 
in  Russia,  and  the  latter  in  Austria  ;  Germany  consists  of  thirty- 
eight  states,  instead  of  354,  as  it  did  two  hundred  years  ago, 
or  of  eighty  or  ninety,  as  in  the  year  1800  ;  Greece  is  now  an 
independent  kingdom ;  Malta  and  the  Ionian  Isles  are  under 
the  government  of  England ;  Belgium  is  an  independent  con- 
stitutional monarchy,  instead  of  being  held  by  Austria,  France 
or  Spain  ;  the  Swiss  Confederation  embraces  twenty-two  Can- 
tons, instead  of  nineteen,  as  it  did  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
XVIIIth  century.  Europe  now  contains  twenty  Kingdoms, 
thirty-one  Duchies,  four  Principalities,  and  nine  Republics, — ^in- 
cluding the  four  Free  Cities  of  Germany — in  all  sixty-four  States. 
This  is  a  great  advance  towards  the  reconstruction  of  the  gov- 
ernments on  the  basis  of  nationality^ — to  which  things  have 
been  tending  for  ages,  and  decidedly  so  during  the  last  half- 
century. 


SECTION  11. 

POLITICAL     CHANGES     IN     THE     REST     OF    THE     EASTERN     HEMI- 
SPHERE. 

Asia. — The  northern  end  of  Asia,  or  the  vast  country  of  Siberia, 
was  under  the  dominion  of  Russia  at  the  commencement  of  the 
present  century,  nor  has  her  dominion  been  much  extended 
in  that  direction  since.  The  war  with  Persia,  in  the  year  1826, 
enlarged  somewhat  the  Trans-Caucasian  possessions  of  Russia. 
That  with  Khiva,  a  country  lying  eastward  of  the  Caspian  Sea, 
was  unfavorable  to  the  arms  of  Russia,  and  added  little  or  noth- 
ing to  her  vast  territories.  The  war  with  the  Circassians  in  the 
Caucasus  has  been  prosecuted  for  a  long  period ;  nor  does  its 
end  appear  to  be  near.  In  fact  it  would  seem  that  Russia  is  in 
no  great  hurry  to  conquer  that  mountainous  region,  or  she 
would  prosecute  the  war  with  more  vigor.     As  to  Bokhara,  an 


22  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

extensive  region  lying  south-east  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  be- 
tween the  Russian  Provinces  south  of  the  Caucasus  and  the 
Province  of  AfFghanistan,  if  Russia  has  ever  seriously  thought 
of  conquering  that  country,  she  has  certainly  kept  her  thoughts 
to  herself.  When  she  shall  have  effected  that  conquest,  and 
England  that  of  Affghanistan,  then  a  collision,  in  Central  Asia, 
between  these  two  great  Powers  will  not  be  far  distant. 

But  while  the  political  changes  in  Northern  Asia  have  been 
neither  great  nor  important,  during  the  last  fifty  years,  it  has 
been  far  otherwise  in  the  southern  portion  of  that  Continent. 
Within  that  period,  the  British  empire  in  India  has  received 
vast  increase,  both  as  to  extension  and  consolidation.  The  na- 
tive princes  have  been  very  effectually  subdued  ;  the  great  prov- 
inces of  the  Punjaub  and  Scinde  and  others  have  been  added 
within  the  last  few  years.  The  attempt  to  annex  Affghanistan, 
in  1840,  to  their  immense  dominions  in  India  was  unfavorable 
to  the  English,  and  they  were  compelled  to  renounce,  for  the  time 
at  least,  the  enterprise.  At  this  moment,  there  must  be  all 
of  one  hundred  millions  of  people  in  India  under  the  govern- 
ment of  Great  Britain,  and  fifteen  or  twenty  millions  on  the 
confines,  who  are  greatly  under  her  influence.  And  this  vast 
empire  has  grown  to  its  present  enormous  extent  from  small 
beginnings  within  a  period  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and 
mainly  since  the  commencement  of  the  present  century. 

In  the  years  1840  and  '41  a  war  took  place  between  Eng- 
land and  China,  which  ended  in  the  latter  being  compelled  to 
open  five  of  her  seaports  to  the  English,  and  pay  21,000,000 
dollars. 

As  to  the  other  countries  in  Asia,  with  the  exception  of  the 
conquest  and  temporary  occupation  of  Syria  by  the  late  Pasha 
of  Egypt,  we  know  of  no  political  changes  worthy  of  note  that 
have  occurred  during  the  present  century. 

Africa. — In  the  northern  part  of  Africa  political  chan|'es  of 
much  importance  have  occurred  since  the  year  1800.     The 


AND    REGISTER.  23 

Pashalic  of  Egypt  has  been  converted  into  a  hereditary  mon- 
archy, acknowledging  a  certain  allegiance  and  subjection  to  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey.  This  was  accomplished  by  Mehemet  Ali, 
the  grandfather  of  the  present  Pasha  Abbas.  That  remarkable 
man  annihilated  the  long-endured  tyranny  of  the  Mamelukes, 
and  set  about  the  reorganization  of  the  administration  of  the 
country  upon  a  more  regular  plan — extremely  despotic,  and 
yet  embracing  a  considerable  element  of  European  civilization. 

The  Barbary  Powers — as  Tunis,  Tripoh,  Algiers,  and  Moroc- 
co were  formerly  called — have  been  compelled  since  this  cen- 
tury commenced,  and  chiefly  within  the  last  twenty-five  years, 
to  abandon  entirely  their  piratical  habits.  Nor  do  they  now 
dare  to  exact  tribute  from  Christian  nations.  Since  the  year 
1830,  Algiers,  with  its  territory,  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the 
French, — a  state  of  things  which  has  had  a  great  influence  upon 
the  adjoining  states. 

England  took  the  southern  end  of  Africa,  or  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  from  Holland  in  the  year  1795,  but  restored  it  in  1802. 
In  1806  she  took  it  again  from  the  Dutch,  and  her  claim  was 
confirmed  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna  in  1814.  Her  possession 
of  it  seems  to  be  permanently  established,  and  under  her  gov- 
ernment the  population  is  gradually  increasing  by  means  of 
immigration  from  the  British  Isles.  Civilization  and  Christi- 
anity are  gradually  penetrating  northward  into  the  intei'ior, 
although  great  hindrance  is  experienced  from  the  savage  tribes. 

At  various  points  colonies,  chiefly  composed  of  free  negroes 
from  the  United  States,  are  planting  along  the  western  coast  of 
Africa,  north  of  the  Equator,  which  promise  at  a  future  day  to 
exert  an  important  political,  as  well  as  moral  and  religious,  in- 
fluence upon  that  great  but  almost  unknown  continent. 

The  Insular  portions  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere. — Great 
Britain  possesses  the  large  islands  of  New  Holland,  Van  Die- 
man's  Land,  and  New  Zealand,  besides  others  of  less  import- 
ance, in  the  Southern  Ocean,  and  a  great  emigration  from  her 


24  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

sliores  is  annually  making  its  v/ay  to  tliem.  Already  there  is  a 
large  population  in  them — probably  not  far  from  a  quarter  of  a 
million — of  An^lo-Saxon  orio-in.  Almost  all  this  has  taken 
place  since  the  opening  of  the  present  century.  Who  can  tell 
how  great  an  influence  the  planting  of  these  English  colonies 
will  have  upon  the  destinies  of  the  human  race  in  that  portion 
of  our  globe  ? 

The  Dutch  still  have  the  great  and  important  islands  of  Java 
and  Sumatra,  and  the  half  of  Borneo, — England  having  given 
them  up  at  the  Treaty  of  Vienna.  On  many  accounts  this  is 
to  be  deplored,  for  the  Dutch  cannot  be  compared  with  the 
English  in  capacity  for  planting  and  governing  colonies ;  and 
above  all,  they  do  almost  nothing  towards  introducing  into  their 
foreign  possessions  the  knowledge  of  a  pure  Christianity,  and  of 
the  happy  institutions  to  which  it  gives  existence. 

There  has  been  but  little  political  change  in  the  smaller 
islands  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere.  France  has  now  the  Society 
Islands  and  the  Marquesas.  In  many  of  them  a  happy  moral 
and  social  as  well  as  religious  change  is  going  forward,  through 
the  labors  of  Protestant  missionaries. 


SECTION  III. 

POLITICAL    CHANGES    IN    NORTH    AMERICA     DURING     THE    FIRST 
HALF  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 

United  States. — At  the  commencement  of  this  century, 
twenty-five  years  had  passed  since  the  people  of  the  United 
States  had  risen  and  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  England.  The 
present  Constitution, — formed  in  1787,  adopted  by  most  of 
the  States  in  1788,  become  operative  in  1789, — had  been  in 
existence  eleven  years.  The  limits  of  the  country  in  the  year 
1800  were  :  the  British  possessions  on  the  north  ;  the  province 
of  New  Brunswick,  and  the  Atlantic,  on  the  east ;  the  Floridas 


AND    REGISTER.  25 

and  Louisiana,  on  the  south ;  and  tbe  Mississippi  River  on  the 
west.  The  number  of  the  States  was  sixteen,  namely,  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Tennessee, 
and  Kentucky.  Three  of  these — Vermont,  Tennessee,  and  Ken- 
tucky— had  been  formed  after  the  independence  of  the  other 
thirteen  had  been  established.  Besides  these  sixteen  States, 
there  was  the  great  territory  north  of  the  Ohio  and  east  of  the 
Upper  Mississippi  River,  an  extensive  territory  lying  west  of 
Georgia,  and  the  small  district  of  Columbia.  The  entire  area  of 
the  country  was,  at  that  epoch,  estimated  to  embrace  one  milhon 
of  square  miles. 

In  the  year  1803,  the  government  of  the  United  States  pur- 
chased of  France  what  was  called  Louisiana,  or  all  that  country 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  British  Possessions  that  lie  west  of 
Lake  Superior ;  on  the  east  by  the  Upper  and  Lower  Mississippi, 
down  to  north  lat.  31^, and  then  by  the  Pearl  River;  south  by 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  Upper  Ca^fornia ; 
and  west  by  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  price  paid  for  this  vast 
domain  was  $15,000,000.  It  was  called  the  Louisiana  territory, 
and  its  area  was  estimated  at  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  of 
square  miles. 

In  1819,  a  treaty  was  made  between  Spain  and  the  United 
States,  by  which  the  former  ceded  Florida  to  the  latter  for  five 
millions  of  dollars,  the  sum  at  which  the  spoliations  upon 
American  commerce  committed  by  Spanish  vessels  were  esti- 
mated. Florida  was  taken  possession  of  July  10,  1821.  By 
this  cession  the  United  States  acquired  a  territory  of  57,750 
square  miles  in  extent. 

In  the  year  1845,  Texas  was  received  as  one  of  the  United 
States,  having  established  and  maintained  her  independence  of 
Mexico.  As  she  claimed  the  Rio  Grande  as  her  western  bound- 
ary, her  entire  area  was  estin:iated  at  325,500  square  miles. 

3 


26  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

And,  finally,  at  the  close  of  the  late  war  with  Mexico  that 
country  ceded  to  the  United  States,  for  the  sum  of  twelve 
millions  of  dollars,  and  other  considerations,  New  Mexico  and 
Upper  California,  containing  526,078  square  miles. 

These  several  acquisitions  of  territory  added  to  the  original 
extent  of  the  United  States,  would  make  its  area  to  be  3,449,348 
square  miles.  But  by  a  treaty  with  England,  made  June  13, 
184G,  the  northern  boundary  of  Oregon,  or  that  part  of  the 
Louisiana  territory  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  was  made  to 
lie  on  the  49th  degree  of  north  latitude,  instead  of  54  deg.  40 
sec,  as  was  originally  claimed.  This  makes  the  area  of  the 
United  States  to  be  about  three  millions  and  a  quarter  of  square 
miles  I  This  is  about  400,000  square  miles  less  than  the  entire 
Continent  of  Europe.  The  United  States  now  stretch  from  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  on  the  east,  to  the  Pacific,  on  the  west,  and  from 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  on  the  south,  to  the  British  Possessions  on 
the  north.  In  point  of  extent  it  ranks  next  to  the  great  Empire 
of  Russia. 

Since  the  commencement  of  the  present  century  tha  following 
new  States  have  been  added,  making  the  entire  number  of  the 
States  in  the  Union  thirty-one. 

Names.  Date  of  Admission. 

Ohio, Nov.     29,  1802. 

Louisiana, April   30,  1811. 

Indiana, Dec.     11,  1816. 

Mississippi, Dec.     10,  1817. 

Ilhnois, Dec.       3,  1819.  , 

Alabama, Dec.     14,  1819. 

Maine, March  16,  1820. 

Missouri, Aug.    10,  1820. 

Arkansas, June     15,  1836. 

Michigan, "  " 

Florida, May       3,  1845. 


AND    REGISTER.  2l 

Names.  Date  of  Admission. 

Iowa,       .     .     .     , May  3,  1845. 

Texas, Dec.  29,  1845. 

Wisconsin, May  29,  1848. 

California, Sept.  7,  1850. 

The  territories  are:  Minnesota  (organized in  1849),  Nebraska 
(unorganized),  both  lying  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  ;  Oregon 
(organized  Aug.  2-13,  1848),  west  of  those  mountains;  New 
Mexico  and  Utah  (organized  in  Sept.  1850),  and  the  district  of 
Columbia. 

The  population  of  the  United  States  was  3,929,327  in  the 
year  1790;  5,305,925  in  the  year  1800;  7,239,814  in  1810; 
9,638,131  in  1820;  12,866,020  in  1830  ;  17,100,572  in  1840  ; 
and  not  much  short  of  23,200,000  in  1850. 

Within  the  United  States  there  are,  it  is  estimated,  between 
400,000  and  500,000  aborigines.  In  the  year  1820,  there  were 
2,247  Indians  in  New  England  ;  5,184  in  the  State  of  New 
York ;  47,783  north  of  the  Ohio,  and  east  of  the  Upper 
Mississippi  ;  and  65,122  east  of  the  Lower  Mississippi, — 
in  the  States  of  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia  and 
Tennessee.  About  this  time  the  government  of  the  United 
States  came  to  the  conclusion,  at  the  instance  of  some  of  the 
wisest  and  best  men  in  the  country,  to  remove  all  these  people, 
as  fast  as  it  could  be  done,  with  their  consent,  to  a  territory 
west  of  the  States  of  Arkansas  and  Missouri,  which  was  to  be 
their  own  without  molestation.  This  it  is  proposed  to  do  in  or- 
der to  place  them  beyond  the  limits  of  the  organized  States,  and 
on  lands  claimed  by  no  States.  This  great  task  has  been  almost 
accomplished.  And  large  communities  of  the  aborigines  are 
there  formed,  having  organized  governments  of  their  own, 
schools,  academies,  workshops,  churches,  etc.,  and  other  fruits 
of  civihzation.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with  the  Cherokees 
and  Choctaws,  and  to  some  extent  with  the  Creeks  and  some 


28  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

small  tribes.  It  is  possible  that  some  of  the  aboriginal  tribes 
may  organize  their  governments  after  the  fashion  of  the  States, 
ask  for  admission  into  the  Union,  and  become  constituent  parts 
of  the  United  States. 

The  government  of  the  United  States,  under  the  Constitution, 
has  existed  (at  the  time  of  this  writing,  March,  1851)  nearly 
sixty-two  years.  There  have  been  thirty-one  Congresses — each 
elected  for  two  years.     And  there  have  been  thirteen  Presidents. 

Washington,  Van  Buren, 

John  Adams,  Harrison, 

Jefferson,  Tyler, 

Madison,  Polk, 

Monroe,  Taylor, 

John  Quincy  Adams,  Fillmore,  now  the  incumbent 

Jackson, 

Harrison  was  President  for  one  month  ;  his  death  placed  Mr. 
Tyler  in  the  chair  for  the  remainder  of  the  term.  Taylor  was 
President  during  sixteen  months  ;  his  death  placed  Mr.  Fill- 
more in  the  chair.  All  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States  have 
been  men  of  respectable  talents  ;  some  of  them  have  possessed 
distinguished  abilities ;  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  they  have 
been  decided  behevers  in  Christianity,  and  regular  attendants 
upon  public  worship,  and  friends  to  every  good  work  ;  and 
some  of  them  have  been  pious  men.  Thus  far  the  nation  has 
had  no  reason  to  feel  mortified  at  the  comparison  of  its  Chief 
Magistrates  with  the  rulers  of  any  other  people. 

The  United  States  have  been  happily  preserved  for  near 
seventy  years  from  the  evils  of  dreadful  and  long-continued 
wars.  In  1805,  they  had  a  short  war  Avith  Tripoli.  The  ar- 
bitrary and  unreasonable  course  of  France  and  England  in  re- 
gard to  neutral  vessels,  greatly  injured  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States,  from   1800  till  1812,  and  finally  brought  on  a 


AND    REGISTER.  29 

war  with  the  latter.  This  war  was  declared  June  18th,  1812, 
and  lasted  between  two  and  three  years.  The  battles  on  land 
were  none  of  them  on  a  large  scale.  Those  of  Chippewa, 
Bridgewater,  Fort  Erie,  Plattsburg,  the  Thames,  and  New  Or- 
leans were  the  most  important.  On  the  sea  and  on  lakes  Erie  and 
Champlain  the  American  arms  gained  some  brilliant  victories. 

There  was  a  war  with  Algiers  of  a  few  weeks'  continuance  in 
1815;  with  the  Creek  Indians  in  1814;  with  the  Seminoles 
in  1818  ;  with  Black  Hawk  and  his  tribe  in  1832  ;  again  with 
the  Seminoles  in  1839-44. 

In  April,  1846,  hostihties  commenced  on  the  Rio  Grande, 
between  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  and  continued  nearly 
two  years.  They  were  terminated  by  the  Treaty  of  Guada- 
loupe-Hidalgo,  Feb.  22d,  1848.  The  most  noted  of  the  battles 
fought  were  those  of  Palo  Alto,  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  Monterey, 
Buena  Vista,  Sacramento,  Vera  Cruz,  Cerro  Gordo,  Contreras, 
Molino  del  Rey,  Churubusco,  Chepultepec,  and  Mexico. 

The  most  remarkable  domestic  difficulties  which  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  has  passed  through  within  the  last 
fifty  years,  were  those  growing  out  of  Nullification  in  South 
Carolina  (1832),  Dorr's  Rebellion  in  Rhode  Island  (1842).  But 
these  affairs  were  happily  settled  without  loss  of  life.  A  few 
serious  riots  have  occurred  in  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Balti- 
more, and  other  places,  anti-rent  riots  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  etc.,  but  they  are  not  worthy  of  notice.  When  it  is  con- 
sidered that  the  government  of  the  United  States  is  one  of  Pub- 
lic Opinion — sustained  by  the  institutions  and  influence  of 
Christianity — and  not  of  Force,  it  is  wonderful  that  so  much 
order  and  tranquillity  have  prevailed,  especially  when  the  vast 
emigration  from  the  Old  World  to  our  shores,  and  the  character 
of  the  emigrants,  are  taken  into  view.  We  certainly  are  not 
without  some  serious  apprehensions  for  the  Future,  and  especially 
in  view  of  some  of  the  embarrassing  questions  now  before  the 
country  :   still,  our  hope  is,  that  the  God  of  our  fathers  will 


30  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

carry  the  nation  safely  through  them  all,  and  preserve  us  a 
united,  prosperous,  and  happy  people. 

Changes  in  British  Possessions  in  North  America. — The  Po- 
litical Changes  in  this  part  of  the  North  American  Continent 
have  not  been  great  since  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century.  England's  sway  in  that  part  of  the  world  has  not 
been  disputed  by  any  one,  unless  we  may  consider  the  attempts 
at  invasion  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  in  1812-15  in 
that  hght.  In  183*7  there  was  an  Insurrection  in  Lower  Canada, 
which  extended  to  Upper  Canada  a  few  weeks  later,  but  was 
speedily  suppressed.  In  the  autumn  of  1838,  another  and 
more  serious  attempt  at  revolution  was  made  in  the  vicinity  of 
Montreal,  but  without  success.  These  movements  excited  not 
a  little  sympathy  in  the  United  States,  especially  along  the 
frontier,  and  several  hundreds  of  volunteers  hastened  to  help 
the  insurgents.  Much  difficulty  ensued,  which  demanded  great 
prudence  and  forbearance  on  the  part  of  the  governments  of 
England  and  the  United  States.  About  the  same  time  troubles 
broke  out  on  the  "  Disputed  Territory"  on  the  borders  of  Can- 
ada and  the  State  of  Maine.  Happily,  all  these  difficulties  were 
arranged  without  the  occurrence  of  collision  between  the  two 
nations. 

Several  years  ago  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  were  united,  and 
have  now  but  one  Legislature.  The  government  has  been  mi- 
gratory— sometimes  making  Montreal  the  capital,  sometimes 
Kingston,  sometimes  Toronto.  We  learn  that  it  is  likely  to  be- 
come permanently  established  at  Quebec. 

A  good  deal  was  said,  a  few  years  ago,  about  uniting  the 
Canadas,  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  other  British 
Possessions  in  North  America  under  one  Colonial  Government ; 
but  nothing  has  yet  been  done  towards  the  accomplishment  of 
Buch  a  project.  The  population  of  these  Possessions  consider- 
ably exceeds  two  millions,  and  is  steadily,  and  in  some  of  them, 
— especially  in  Canada  West, — even  rapidly  increasing.     The 


AND    REGISTER.  31 

Ilome  Government  has  done  miicli  of  late  years  to  promote  in- 
ternal improvements  in  the  Canadas.  The  openings  of  hnes  of 
railroads  from  Portland  and  Boston  to  Montreal,  and  the  gi'eat 
increase  of  steamboats  on  the  Lakes  and  on  the  St.  Lawrence, 
as  well  as  the  establishment  of  a  line  of  steamers  from  Liver- 
pool to  Halifax,  have  all  concurred  to  promote  the  prosperity 
of  these  countries. 

Mexico  and  Central  America. — These  countries  separated 
from  Spain  about  the  year  1820.  Mexico  now  has  an  area  of 
1,100,000  square  miles,  and  7,661,919  inhabitants.  The  gov- 
ernment is  republican  in  form  as  well  as  in  name.  But  faction 
has  succeeded  faction,  and  demagogue  succeeded  demagogue — 
from  Iturbide  (1822-24)  to  Santa  Anna, — in  the  government 
of  that  beautiful  but  unhappy  and  unprosperous  country.  And 
there  is  little  prospect  of  tranquillity  and  well-ordered  govern- 
ment. It  is  said  that  the  present  President,  Arista,  has  en- 
lightened views  on  the  subject  of  religious  liberty,  and  is  de- 
sirous of  diminishing  the  enormous  wealth  and  power  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  in  that  country. 

South  of  Mexico  lies  the  country  of  Yucatan,  which  has  usu- 
ally been  connected  with  Mexico,  and  sometimes  separated  from 
it.  There  is  no  well-settled  government  in  it.  The  Enghsh 
possess  the  country  called  Balize,  lying  south  of  Yucatan,  on 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  has  but  a  small  population.  West  of 
this  lies  the  country  of  Guatemala.  South  of  this  lie  the  coun- 
tries of  Honduras  and  San  Salvador.  Next  comes  Nicaragua, 
with  the  Mosquito  Coast  (on  the  east),  and  last  of  all  there  is 
Costa  Rica.  All  these  countries,  excepting  Yucatan,  form  part  of 
what  is  called  Central  America ;  Guatemala,  Honduras,  San 
Salvador,  Nicaragua,  and  Costa  Rica  claim  to  be  considered 
Republics.  But  anarchy,  civil  war,  and  war  with  each  other, 
have  long  made  tranquillity  and  prosperity  alike  unknown  in 
them. 

The  following  tabular  view  gives  the  extent  and  population 


32  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

of  each  of  these  countries,  which  are  destined  to  an  importance 
of  which  few  have  had  a  conception  : — 

Guatemala,  28,000  sq.  m.,  935,000  2^opulation. 

San  Salvador,  24,000       "       363,000  •  " 

Nicaragua,  40,000       "       400,000  " 

Costa  Rica,  23,000       "       198,000  " 

Honduras,  81,000       "       308,000  " 

Balize,  Erig.  Province^  62,740       "  3,000  " 


SECTION  IV. 

POLITICAL    CHANGES    IN    SOUTH    AMERICA. 

Neio  Granada. — In  1819,  New  Granada,  Venezuela,  and 
the  Presidency  of  Quito  united  and  formed  the  Republic  of 
Colombia.  Simon  Bolivar,  the  most  distinguished  of  all  the 
South  American  chiefs,  was  the  first  President.  Venezuela 
withdrew  from  the  union  in  1828,  and  Quito  in  1831 — thus 
forming  three  repubhcs  instead  of  one. 

New  Granada  has  an  area  of  380,000  square  miles,  and  a 
population  of  more  than  a  million  and  a  half.  Upon  the  whole 
it  is  better  governed,  and  more  prosperous  than  almost  any- 
other  country  in  South  America.  There  is  also  a  greater  dis- 
position to  grant  rehgious  toleration  than  is  found  elsewhere  on 
that  Continent. 

Venezuela. — This  country  has  an  area  of  450,000  square 
miles,  and  a  million  of  inhabitants.  Caraccas  is  the  capital. 
Since  1831,  it  has  been  independent  of  New  Granada.  J.  T. 
Monagas  is  the  present  President.  General  Paez  was  the  first 
President.  A  deadly  hatred  has  long  subsisted  between  these 
men,  and  has  several  times  led  to  civil  war.  Paez  is  now  in 
this  country  as  an  exile. 


AND    REGISTER.  33 

Ecuador^  or  Equator, — This  country  was  formerly  the  Span- 
ish Presidency  of  Quito,  which  is  its  chief  city.  It  has  been  a 
republic  since  1831,  independent  of  New  Granada.  It  has  an 
area  of  325,000  square  miles,  and  600,000  inhabitants. 

Peru. — This  country  declared  itself  independent  of  Spain  in 
the  year  1821.  After  years  of  civil  strife,  the  country  has  be- 
come more  tranquil,  and  is  better  governed  than  it  was.  It 
has  an  area  of  524,000  square  miles,  and  a  population  of 
1,373,000. 

Bolivia. — This  country  was  formerly  called  Upper  Peru. 
Since  1824  it  has  been  independent  of  Peru.  Its  area  contains 
318,000  square  miles,  and  its  population  is  estimated  at 
1,700,000.  Like  Peru,  and  almost  all  the  South  American 
Kepublics,  Bolivia  has  been  much  troubled  by  factions. 

Chili. — ^This  country  threw  off  the  dominion  of  Spain  in 
1818.  It  is  the  smallest  and  best  governed  of  the  Republics 
of  South  America.  It  has  an  area  of  only  144,000  square 
miles,  and  a  population  of  1,200,000. 

Buenos  Ayres. — ^Tbis  country  threw  off  the  dominion  of 
Spain  in  1816,  and  in  1819  adopted  a  constitution  much  like 
that  of  the  United  States  of  North  America.  In  1826  it  be- 
gan to  be  called  the  Argentine  Republic.  In  1828  the  con- 
federation of  States  which  formed  this  Republic  was  dissolved. 
Since  1830  this  country  has  been  governed  by  a  despot  of  the 
name  of  Rosas,  whose  sway  has  been  very  tyrannical  and  san- 
guinary. The  area  of  this  Republic,  if  such  it  can  now  be 
called,  is  728,000  square  miles,  and  its  population  scarcely 
reaches  675,000. 

Uruguay. — This  country  is  also  called  the  Oriental  Re- 
public. It  is  often  called  the  Republic  of  Montevideo,  from 
the  name  of  its  capital.  This  Repubhc  has  an  area  of  120,000 
square  miles,  and  its  population  is  only  140,000.  Rosas, 
the  Dictator  of  Buenos  Ayres,  has  long  been  trying  to  con- 
quer this  little  State,  but  hitherto  in  vain.     The  rulers  of  this 


34  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Eepublic  are  quite  disposed  to  be  liberal  on  the  subject  of  Re- 
ligious Toleratiou. 

Paraguay. — ^This  country  became  a  Republic  in  1813,  and 
separated  from  Spain.  The  next  year  a  Dr.  Francia  made  him- 
self Dictator, — which  office  he  held  till  his  death  in  1840, — at 
the  age  of  eighty  years.  He  was  a  most  extraordinary  man, — 
another  Rosas, — and  governed  his  country  in  the  most  despotic 
and  cruel  manner.  The  country  is  now  governed  by  President 
Lopez.  Its  extent  is  74,000  square  miles,  and  its  population 
about  250,000. 

Brazil. — This  country  was  under  the  government  of  Portu- 
gal till  the  year  1822.  King  John  VI.  having  been  driven 
from  Lisbon  in  1808,  made  Rio  Janeiro  his  place  of  residence 
till  1821,  when  he  returned  to  Portugal,  leaving  his  son  Don 
Pedro  Prince  Regent.  The  year  following  Brazil  declared  her- 
self independent,  and  made  Don  Pedro  emperor.  In  1831  he 
abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son,  who  reigns  still  under  the  title  of 
Don  Pedro  II.  Brazil  is  a  constitutional  monarchy,  and  in 
many  respects  the  finest,  as  it  is  by  far  the  largest,  country  in 
South  America.  Its  area  exceeds  2,300,000  square  miles ;  its 
})opulation  is  supposed  to  be  about  7,500,000. 

The  Guianas. — In  the  north-eastern  part  of  South  America 
lie  the  following  provinces — the  only  countries  on  that  Conti- 
nent which  are  subject  to  the  dominion  of  any  European  coun- 
try. Those  belonging  to  France  and  Holland  were,  for  a  time, 
severed  from  the  mother  countries  in  the  early  part  of  this  cen- 
tury, but  have,  since  1815,  sustained  their  former  relations. 

British  Guiana,  76,000  sq.  miles.  96,500  Inhabitants, 
Dutch  Guiana,   36,000         "  6,500  " 

French  Guiana,  21,648         "         18,000  " 


AND    REGISTER.  35 

SECTION  V. 

WEST      INDIES. 

The  only  possessions  which  remain  to  Spain  of  all  her  once 
vast  empire  in  the  American  Hemisphere  are  the  islands  of 
Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  some  smaller  ones  which  she  held  at 
the  commencement  of  this  century.  In  these  islands  no  pohti- 
cal,  moral,  or  any  other  change  has  taken  place,  save  the  intro- 
duction of  railroads  in  Cuba,  and  the  running  of  a  few  steamers, 
and  they  mostly  in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  between  these 
islands. 

Nor  have  any  political  changes  taken  place,  in  the  other 
islands,  since  the  year  1800,  save  that  England  has  increased 
hers  by  adding  Trinidad  and  a  few  smaller  ones.  In  1835 
England  abolished  slavery  in  her  islands ;  and  France  did  the 
same  in  1848.  By  these  acts  more  than  one  million  of  people 
of  African  origin  obtained  freedom  and  citizenship  in  the  West 
India  Islands.  Denmark  and  Sweden  have  taken  measures  to 
secure  the  same  blessings  to  their  small  islands.  Long  years 
of  transition  will  be  necessary  to  bring  about  the  changes  in 
character,  occupation,  enterprise,  manners,  trade,  etc.,  which  this 
great  measure  has  rendered  necessary  and  inevitable  in  West 
Indian  society.  A  feudal  state — a  state  in  which  the  wealth, 
the  property,  is  in  the  hands  of  the  few^  and  the  masses  possess 
nothing  but  merely  the  means  (food,  raiment,  and  habitations) 
of  living,  is  henceforth  impossible.  The  aggregate  of  property 
will  one  day,  however,  be  greater  than  in  the  days  of  slavery. 

But  the  most  remarkable  political  changes  in  the  West  Indies 
have  occurred  in  Hayti,  or  St.  Domingo.  This  island  declared 
its  independence  in  July  22,  1801,  through  the  influence  of 
Toussaint,  a  mulatto.  It  was  recovered  by  the  French  the  next 
year.     Dessalines,  a  negro,  next  put  himself  at  the  head  of 


36  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT. 

the  enslaved  race,  and  ordered,  by  public  proclamation  (March 
29,  1804),  the  massacre  of  all  the  whites.  This  monster  was 
crowned  King,  under  the  name  of  Jacques  I.,  Oct.  8,  1804,  and 
died,  by  assassination,  Sept.  21,  1805.  Christophe,  a  negro, 
became  President,  in  Feb.  1807,  and  was  crowned  Emperor 
with  the  title  Henri  I.,  in  March,  1811.  He  reigned  at  Cape 
Francois,  in  the  northern  side  of  the  island,  and  his  empire  was 
very  small,  whilst  Petion,  a  mulatto,  ruled  as  President  at  Port- 
au-Prince,  in  the  western  side.  Boyer,  a  mulatto,  succeeded 
Petion,  in  May,  1818.  Upon  the  death  of  Christophe,  in  1820, 
Boyer  became  President  of  the  whole  island.  Upon  his  down- 
fall in  1843,  a  state  of  anarchy  or  misgovernment  ensued,  which 
exists  still.  Souluque,  a  negro,  the  fourth  President  since 
Boyer,  and  elected  March  2,  1847,  caused  himself  to  be  pro- 
claimed Emperor,  Aug.  24,  1849.  His  absurd  and  oppressive 
course  has  caused  the  people  of  the  Spanish,  or  eastern,  end  of 
the  island  to  separate  from  the  western,  or  French  end,  and  set 
up  a  Provisional  Government  of  their  own.  It  is  probable  that 
this  state  of  things  will  not  last  long,  for  the  cruel  and  yet  fan- 
tastic rule  of  his  Imperial  Majesty,  Faustin  I.,  is  endured  with 
great  impatience.  Nothing  saves  him  but  his  large  army  of 
blacks. 


Such  is  the  brief  notice  which  the  limits  of  this  work  allow 
us  to  give  of  the  Political  Changes  which  have  occurred  during 
the  last  half-century  in  the  Old  and  New  Worlds.  Such  a 
sketch  we  have  deemed  appropriate  to  the  nature  and  design 
of  this  work.  It  will  enable  the  reader  to  get,  with  but  little 
trouble,  a  cowp  cVceil  of  the  changes  which  the  world  has  un- 
dergone the  last  fifty  years,  so  far  as  political  government  is 
concerned,  as  well  as  its  present  state. 


CHAPTEE    II. 

PROaRESS   OF  POLITICAL    LIBERTY  DURING-  THE  FIRST 
HALF   OF   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 

SECTION  I. 

EASTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

Europe. — At  the  commencement  of  this  century  the  govern- 
ments in  Europe  that  had  a  constitutional  form  were  the  follow- 
ing : — Great  Britain  and  Sweden,  which  were  monarchies ;  and 
France,  Holland,  Switzerland,  and  the  four  free  cities  of  Ger- 
many,—  Hamburg,  Liibeck,  Bremen,  and  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main, — wdiich  were  Ptepublics.  To  these  we  must  add  the  two 
very  insignificant  Republics  of  San  Marino^'  in  Italy,  and  Andorra 
in  Spain. 

The  structure  of  the  English  Government,  consisting  of  the 
Monarch  and  a  Parliament  of  two  Houses, — that  of  the  Peers 
hereditary,  and  that  of  the  Commons  elective, — is  too  well 
known  to  need  any  notice  in  this  work.  It  has  undergone  no 
essential  change  in  its  form  during  this  century.  The  represen- 
tation of  the  people  in  the  House  of  Commons  has  been  much 
modified,  and  the  right  of  suffrage  greatly  conceded  in  all  of  the 
Three  Kingdoms  since  the  year  1830. 

*  San  Marino  embraces  but  34  square  miles,  and  lias  about  8,000 
inhabitants.  It  has  five  villages,  the  central  one  of  which  is  the  most 
elevated.  This  little  Republic  is  governed  by  a  Senate  of  300  mem- 
bers, and  two  Captains  (Gonfalonieri),  or  Consuls,  who  are  elected  every 
three  months. 


38  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

The  constitution  of  Sweden  is  old,  and  the  structure  of  the 
government  is  quite  too  antiquated.  The  Diet,  which  formerly 
met  every  five  years,  now  meets  once  in  three  years,  at  Stock- 
holm, the  modern  capital  of  that  country.  This  body  consists 
of  four  Houses  or  Branches, — the  Nobles,  the  Burgesses,  the 
Clergy,  and  the  Peasants.  The  first  is  hereditary,  and  the  other 
three  are  elected  by  the  clergy  and  people.  The  House  of  Nobles 
consists  of  nearly  1200  in  number  ;  that  of  the  Burgesses  or  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  Cities  and  Towns,  about  eighty ;  that  of  the 
Clergy  about  seventy-five,  including  the  Archbishop  and  eleven 
Bishops ;  and  that  of  the  Peasants  or  Farmers,  about  one  hun- 
dred and  forty.  As  they  vote  by  Houses,  each  having  one  vote, 
and  the  votes  of  three  Houses  being  necessary  to  the  enactment 
of  any  law,  legislation  is  necessarily  a  slow  business  in  that 
country.  An  attempt  was  made  a  few  months  ago  to  modify 
the  Diet,  so  as  to  have  but  two  Houses,  after  the  English  form ; 
but  the  project  failed,  although  the  King  warmly  recommended 
the  measure.  No  House  but  that  of  the  Burgesses  voted  in 
its  favor, — another  fact  to  prove,  what  indeed  the  whole  history 
of  Liberty  has  shown  on  every  page,  that  it  is  from  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  cities  and  large  towns  that  the  most  enlightened 
appreciation  of  its  value,  and  the  most  effective  support  of  its 
claims,  must  be  expected. 

The  Republic  of  Holland,  a  singular  combination  of  the  aris- 
tocratic and  democratic  elements,  was  in  the  last  stages  of  its 
existence — having  been  nearly  ruined  by  the  French  interfer- 
ence— at  the  commencement  of  this  century.  Shortly  after  this, 
it  ended  its  career  by  giving  place  to  the  monarchy  which  Na- 
poleon  created  for  his  brother  Louis. 

Switzerland  was  a  collection  of  nineteen  Republics  in  the 
year  1800,  rather  than  one  united  and  compact  government — 
each  Canton  having  its  Syndics,  its  Small  or  Executive  Council, 
and  its  Great  Council  or  Legislative  Assembly. 

As  to  the  Free  Cities  of  Germany,  they  were  extremely  aris- 


AND    REGISTER.  89 

tocratic  in  their  organization — with  their  Syndics,  Burgomasters 
and  Senates,  all  elected  for  life — the  two  former  bodies  chosen 
by  the  Senate,  and  the  Senate  fiUing  the  vacancies  in  its  own 
number. 

As  to  France,  it  certainly  had  the  form  of  a  Eepublic  in  the 
year  1800,  but  was  fast  verging  to  a  mihtary  despotism.  And 
though  she  had  had  for  eight  years  what  was  called  a  Republic, 
it  is  certain  that  the  Executive  Power,  whether  a  Triumvirate, 
Directory,  or  Consulate,  so  completely  overshadowed,  during 
much  of  the  time,  the  Legislative,  as  to  make  it  manifest  that 
the  government  was  republican  in  name,  rather  than  in  reahty. 

It  appears,  then,  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 
there  were  but  eleven  governments  in  Europe  that  could  with 
any  propriety  be  said  to  have  a  constitutional  form,  or  to  enjoy 
any  measure  of  Uberty  secured  by  written  constitutions,  and  in 
the  making  of  whose  laws,  and  in  the  administration  of  whose 
affairs,  the  People  had  any  influence  whatever.  There  were 
two  monarchies,  and  nine  repubhcs — two  of  the  latter,  how^ever, 
almost  too  insignificant  to  deserve  to  be  placed  in  the  list.  As 
to  the  rest  of  Europe,  there  was  nothing  whatever  that  deserved 
the  name  of  constitutional  or  free  government ;  for  the  conces- 
sions which  some  of  the  Princes  of  Germany,  and  even  some  of 
the  Emperors,  had  made  under  the  title  of  "  Capitulations"  and 
"  Capitularies,"  by  which  certain  rights  were  defined  and  guar- 
anteed, certainly  do  not  even  approach  to  anything  that  merits 
the  name  of  a  Constitution. 

Aisa  and  Africa. — Nor  was  there  the  least  vestige  of  Liberty, 
or  constitutional  government  of  any  denomination  in  the  rest 
of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere.  With  the  exceptions  just  enum- 
erated, despotism,  unlimited  dominion,  prevailed  everywhere  in 
civiHzed  and  uncivilized  countries  in  Eastern  Christendom,  and 
beyond  it. 


40  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

SECTION  11. 

WESTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

America. — And  on  this  Western  Hemisphere,  with  the  noole 
exception  of  these  United  States  and  the  British  Provinces, 
there  was  nothing  in  the  year  1800  that  could  be  called  free 
government.  To  the  south  of  our  happy  country,  the  entire  of 
America,  so  far  as  it  was  in  the  possession  of  civilized  nations, 
was  governed  by  European  Powers,  and  chiefly  by  Spain  and 
Portuofal. 


SECTION  III. 

PRESENT    STATE     OF    THE    WORLD. 

Widely  different,  in  this  respect,  is  the  state  of  things  in  both 
Europe  and  America  at  the  present  day. 

In  North  America,  we  have  these  United  States,  now  con- 
sisting of  thirty-one  commonwealths,  organized,  and  members 
of  the  Union,  and  several  territories,  which  are  in  process  of 
preparation  for  entrance  into  it. 

South  of  us  are  the  Republics  of  Mexico,  Guatemala,  San  Sal- 
vador, Honduras,  Nicaragua,  and  Costa  Rica.  North  of  ug 
are  the  British  Provinces,  which  not  only  enjoy  the  bless- 
ing of  English  laws,  but  have  their  own  Legislatures,  chosen 
by  the  People,  to  which  is  committed  the  making  of  the  law? 
that  most  concern  their  best  interests  and  their  happiness. 

In  South  America  there  are  nine  Republics — New  Granada, 
Venezuela,  Ecuador,  Peru,Bohvia,  Chili,  Buenos  Ayres,  Uruguay, 
and  Paraguay — and  one  Constitutional  Empire.  We  are  not 
aware  that  the  Guianas, — British,  French,  and  Dutch, — have 


AND    REGISTER.  41 

any  legislative  bodies,  but  they  are  all  under  European  govern- 
ments that  are  constitutional,  and  this  is  something. 

It  appears,  then,  that  there  are  sixteen  Republics  on  this 
Western  Hemisphere — seven  in  North  America,  and  nine  in 
South  America — one  Constitutional  Monarchy,  and  nine  coun- 
tries,— Canada,  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  Cape  Breton, 
Newfoundland,  the  Balize,  and  the  three  Guianas, — which  are 
under  the  rule  of  European  governments,  that  have  a  constitu- 
tional form,  and  which  extend  to  them  a  large  amount  of  con- 
stitutional liberty.  In  fact,  there  is  no  civilized  part  of  America, 
North  or  South,  over  which  despotic  sway  is  maintained,  with 
the  exception  of  that  which  is  maintained  by  Russia,  in  the 
North- West  (in  which  there  are  not  more  than  six  or  eight 
thousand  inhabitants  who  know  anything  of  civilization),  and 
the  Spanish  Islands  in  the  West  Indies. 

It  is  true  that  in  most  of  the  Republics,  south  of  our  own, 
constitutional  governments  are  far  from  being  w^ell  established. 
There  is  much,  very  much,  to  be  deplored  in  the  state  of  things  in 
Mexico,  in  Guatemala,  San  Salvador,  Honduras,  Nicaragua, 
Costa  Rica,  Venezuela,  Buenos  Ayres,  and  other  Spanish  Re- 
publics ;  but  there  is,  in  most  of  them,  some  progress,  though 
very  slow.  In  process  of  time,  Hberty  will  be  better  established. 
Education  will  advance,  a  purer  Christianity  will  enter  and  pre- 
vail. The  example  of  this  country  and  other  constitutional  gov- 
ernments will  become  better  known,  more  highly  appreciated, 
and  more  successfully  imitated. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  Europe,  where  only  eleven  consti- 
tutional governments,  as  we  have  just  seen,  existed  at  the  com- 
mencement of  this  century  ?  What  a  change  has  come  over 
that  part  of  the  world  within  fifty  years !  The  Revolution  of 
1830,  in  France,  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  cause  of  Liberty 
in  the  Old  World  ;  that  of  1848,  however,  gave  a  far  greater. 
The  case  now  stands  thus : — 


42 


CHRISTIAN    KETUOSPECT. 


Great  Britain, 

Portugal, 

Spain, 

Holland, 

Belgium, 


CONSTITUTIONAL    GOVERNMENTS. 

Monarchies. 
Denmark, 
Norway, 
Sweden, 
Hanover 


Prussia, 


Saxony, 

Bavaria, 

Wiirtemburg, 

Sardinia, 

Greece. 


France, 
Switzerland, 
Ionian  Isles, 


23  Duchies  in  Germany, 

Republics. 

San  Marino, 

Andorra,  and 

4  Free  Cities  in  Germany. 


WITHOUT    CONSTITUTIONS. 


Duckies. 
Tuscany, 
Parma, 
Modena, 
5  Duchies  in  Germany. 


3fonarchies. 
Russia, 
Austria, 

States  of  the  Church 
Naples, 
Turkey. 

Principalities. 
Moldavia,  Servia, 

Wallachia,  Monaco. 

Making  in  all  forty-seven  Constitutional  or  Free  Governments, 
and  seventeen  which  have  no  constitutions, — in  other  words, 
are  despotisms.  Let  us  admit  that  there  is  much,  very  much 
wanting  in  the  Constitutional  Monarchies  and  in  the  Republics 
of  Europe ;  that  the  amount  of  real  Liberty  in  most  of  them  is 
small ;  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  rulers  and  the  ruled  are  not 
well  defined,  and  that  the  people,  in  many  countries,  have  not 
been  educated  to  freedom  and  free  governments.  Yet  we  must 
rejoice  that  a  beginning  has  been  made,  and  we  must  believe 
that  Liberty,  though  destined  to  meet  many  reverses,  will  advance, 
and  in  the  end  gain  the  victory  over  despotism  in  every  form ! 


CHAPTER  III. 

PEOGEESS  OF  EDUCATION — COMMON  SCHOOLS  —  COL- 
LEGES, ETC. — IN  THE  FIEST  HALF  OF  THE  NINE- 
TEENTH  CFNTUEY. 

By  no  one  fact  is  the  first  half  of  the  XlXth  Century  more 
marked  than  the  increased  interest  which  the  subject  of  educa- 
tion— especially  that  which  concerns  the  masses,  or  what  is 
called  Popular  Education — has  excited  in  all  those  portions  of 
the  civilized  world  in  which  there  is  any  real  progress.  Next 
to  this  ranks  the  interest  taken  in  Secondary  Schools,  or  Acade- 
mies, as  they  are  commonly  called  with  us.  Nor  have  the  Col- 
leges and  Universities  failed  to  share  in  the  general  educational 
movement. 

SECTION  I. 

THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  founders  of  the  colonies  which  were  planted  in  what 
is  now  called  the  United  States, — with  the  exception  of 
Maryland,  Florida,  and  Louisiana, — were  Protestants.  And 
even  the  first-named  scarcely  deserves  to  be  considered  an  ex- 
ception, for  it  was  not  long  till  the  Protestants  became  the  ma- 
jority in  that  colony,  as  they  were  from  the  first  in  all  the 
other  Anglo-Saxon  colonies  which  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
nation.  All  those  Protestant  colonies  felt  the  importance  of 
promoting  the  education  of  the  children  and  youth  in  the 
knowledge  of  letters,  as  well  as  in  correct  moral  and  religious 
principles.  This  was  especially  true  of  the  Puritan  colonies  of 
New  England.     Massachusetts,  as  early  as  1647,  required  by 


44  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

law  that  every  township  which  had  fifty  householders  should 
have  a  school-house  and  employ  a  teacher,  and  that  such  as 
had  one  thousand  freeholders  should  have  a  Grammar-school. 
And  from  the  first,  schools  were  supported  by  a  properly  regu- 
lated taxation. 

From  that  time  forward  the  subject  of  education  has  received 
increasing  attention,  not  only  in  the  New  England  States,  but 
throughout  the  whole  country,  and  much  has  been  done  to  ex- 
tend the  principle  of  having  Common  or  Public  Schools  sup- 
ported by  State  provision,  especially  since  the  commencement 
of  this  century.  Not  only  have  the  Eastern  or  Ne\\  England 
States  systems  of  Public  Schools,  but  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  Michigan,  and  Wisconsin  have  followed 
their  example.^*  At  no  distant  day  the  same  thing  will  be  true 
of  Indiana,  Illinois,  Kentucky,f  and  some  other  states. 

In  the  Southern  States,  owing  to  the  country  being  more 
sparsely  peopled  in  many  cases,  and  to  the  peculiar  state  of  so- 
ciety, the  Governments  have  hitherto  attempted  little  beyond 
the  making  of  provision — in  some  cases  quite  liberal — for  the 
education  of  poor  white  children. 

We  may  safely  say  that  education  is  a  subject  that  has  in- 

*  Massachusetts  has  a  School  Fund  of  $846,082 ;  it  increases  at  the 
rate  of  $30,000  per  annum.  Connecticut  has  a  School  Fund  of  $2,075,000. 
Maine  has  a  small  School  Fund.  In  1845  it  amounted  to  $57,629,  and 
has  not  increased  much  since.  Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  and  Rhode 
Island  depend  wholly  on  taxation  for  tlie  support  of  their  schools.  The 
State  of  New  York  has  a  School  Fund  of  $2,170,514,  and  a  Literary 
Fund  of  $265,306.  New  Jersey  has  a  fund  of  $370,000,  and  Ohio 
$1,520,000.  Pennsylvania  appropriates  annually  from  its  Treasury  the 
Bum  of  $190,000,  and  the  Townships  raise  $392,442  by  taxation.  Michi- 
gan has  a  fund  which  yields  $30,000  annually  for  schools.  Wisconsin 
has  a  fund  which  is  expected  to  yield  $106,878  this  year — 1851. 

f  Kentucky  has  a  School  Fund  of  $1,299,268.  Delaware,  Virginia, 
the  Carolinas,  and  almost  all  the  other  Southern  States  do  more  or  less 
for  the  education  of  the  poor,  but  have  no  school  system. 


AND    REGISTER.  45 

variably  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Legislatures  of  all  our 
States,  as  one  that  is  fundamental  in  iniportance.  And  every 
year  the  interest  in  this  subject  is  increasing.  In  the  States  of 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  New  York  excellent  Normal 
Schools  have  been  estabhshed,  for  the  preparation  of  teachers, 
partly  at  the  expense  of  the  Government  of  those  States,  and 
partly  through  the  munificence  of  individuals.^^ 

Infant  Schools  were  introduced  into  the  United  States  in  the 
year  1827,  but  have  never  been  extensively  established  among  us. 
They  exist  now  chiefly  as  Sunday  Schools  for  very  small  children. 

Lancasterian  Schools  were  for  a  time  in  considerable  repute 
in  some  parts  of  the  United  States,  but  there  is  scarcely  one  to 
be  found  now.  Schools  on  the  plans  of  Pestalozzi  and  Fellen- 
berg  have  never  succeeded  with  us,  because  they  were  found 
not  to  accomplish  what  was  promised,  or  to  suit  the  manners 
of  our  people,  or  the  state  of  American  society.  Manual  Labor 
Schools,  or  schools  in  which  young  men  can  do  something  for 
their  support  by  laboring  a  few  hours  daily,  have  been  estab- 
lished at  various  places  in  the  United  States,  and  enjoyed  some 
measure  of  success ;  but  they  have,  with  few  exceptions,  had  a 
short-lived  success. 

In  all  the  States  a  good  deal  has  been  done  for  Secondary 
Schools,  or  Academies ;  in  many  of  which  instruction  in  Latin 
and  Greek,  as  well  as  in  the  higher  branches  of  a  good  English 
education,  is  imparted.  In  many  cases  the  State  gives  some  aid 
towards  the  founding  of  such  institutions.  In  some  cases  they 
owe  their  existence  solely  to  private  munificence. 

*  The  late  Hon.  Edmund  Dwight  of  Boston  gave,  in  1838,  the  sum 
of  $10,000  to  found  one  or  more  Normal  Schools  in  Massachusetts. 
This  led  to  the  opening  of  three  such  institutions— at  West  Xewton, 
Westfield,  and  Bridgewater.  In  1849  the  inhabitants  of  Berlin,  in  Con- 
necticut, raised  $16,000  for  a  ISTormal  School  in  that  place,  which  went 
into  operation  in  1850,  The  largest  and  most  complete  JSTormal  School 
in  the  United  States  is  the  one  in  Albany,  N.Y.,  established  in  1844. 


46  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Within  the  last  twenty-five  years  a  great  deal  has  been  done 
to  establish  Female  Seminaries,  of  a  high  order,  in  all  parts  of 
the  United  States.  Probably  there  has  been  more  progress  in 
this  branch  of  education  than  in  any  other  in  the  whole  country. 
These  institutions  are  now  to  be  found  not  only  in  the  chief 
cities,  but  also  in  the  large  towns  and  villages.  They  are  des- 
tined to  exert  an  immense  influence  upon  the  best  interests  of 
the  country.  Two  or  three  years  spent  in  a  good  seminary  of 
this  class  after  she  has  acquired  the  elements  of  an  education  in 
the  primary  or  common  schools,  seldom  fail  to  have  a  great 
effect  upon  the  mind,  the  character,  and  the  manners  of  a  young 
lady. 

The  Colleges  of  the  United  States  have  greatly  increased 
within  fifty  years.  At  the  beginning  of  this  century  there  were 
scarcely  twenty-five.  There  are  now,  it  is  believed,  one  hundred 
and  twenty. 

In  1801,  there  was     1  Baptist 

"      "      there  were    2  Episcopal 

"      "      there  was     1  Methodist 

"      "      there  were    2  Roman  Cathol 

"      "      there  were  19  Cong,  and  Presb.  " 

In  the  year  1801,  there  were. 

In  New  England,     7  Colleges, 
"  Middle  States,      6         " 
"  Southern  States,  9         " 
"  Western  States,  3         " 

Many  of  these  Colleges  have  been  established  within  a  very 
few  years,  and  are  but  poorly  endowed.  In  many  cases  the 
Professors  are  not  men  of  much  erudition.  The  libraries  and 
apparatus  of  many  of  these  Colleges  are  on  a  very  limited  scale. 
Some  of  the  older  Colleges  are  now  beginning  to  be  pretty  well 
endowed.     This  is  the  case  with  Harvard  University  at  Cam- 


College,   now 

13 

((           (( 

10 

a              (( 

13 

ic     "            " 

13 

sb.  "             " 

71 

now  14 

"     22 

«     37 

"     47 

AND    REGISTER.  47 

bridge,  Mass.,  and  to  some  extent  with  Yale  College,  at  New 
Haven,  and  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  at  Princeton,  in  that 
State,  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  some  others. 

As  a  general  proposition,  it  may  be  affirmed  that  the  educa- 
tion of  a  country  will  always  correspond  with  the  wants  of  that 
country.  As  intelligence  advances  among  the  people,  it  will 
demand  an  advance  in  the  studies  pursued  in  the  Colleges  and 
other  seminaries  of  learning.  There  has  been  great  progress  in 
this  respect  during  the  last  fifty  years,  and  especially  within  the 
last  twenty  or  twenty-five  years. 

Not  only  has  the  number  of  Colleges  greatly  increased  since 
the  year  1800,  but  there  has  been  a  remarkable  progress  in  re- 
gard to  what  may  be  called  professional  Institutions.  In  former 
times,  young  men  who  desired  to  prepare  themselves  for  the 
Pulpit  or  the  Bar,  or  for  the  Medical  Profession,  were  compelled 
to  prosecute  their  studies  under  the  direction  of  some  distin- 
guished minister  of  the  Gospel,  some  able  lawyer,  or  some  emi- 
nent physician.  Or  at  best,  they  might  prosecute,  to  some  ex- 
tent, these  studies  with  a  Professor  of  a  College.  But  at  pres- 
ent there  are  forty-two  Theological  Institutions  in  this  country, 
twelve  Law  Schools,  and  thirty-seven  Medical  Schools.  All 
these  seminaries,  excepting  three  Medical  Schools,  have  sprung 
up  since  the  year  1800. 

Of  the  Theological  Seminaries,  six  are  Congregational,  fifteen 
Presbyterian,  five  Lutheran,  two  Dutch  Reformed,  one  Method- 
ist, three  Episcopal,  two  Unitarian,  and  ten  belong  to  the  Bap- 
tist and  other  denominations.  The  Theological  Seminary  at 
Andover,  opened  in  1808,  was  the  first  that  was  established  in 
the  United  States  on  the  plan  of  having  several  professors. 

Neither  the  number  of  Law  Schools,  nor  of  students  in  them, 
bears  any  comparison  to  the  Theological  and  Medical  Schools 
and  their  many  pupils. 

The  Medical  Schools  have  succeeded  wonderfully.  Those  of 
Philadelphia, — where  there  are  three  or  four, — have  become 


48  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

quite  celebrated,  and  are  attended  every  winter  by  a  very  large 
number  of  young  men.  That  city  may  now  be  ranked  with 
Paris,  Edinburgh,  and  Vienna,  as  one  of  the  great  seats  of  Medi- 
cal knowledge. 

The  United  States'  Government  supports  only  two  schools, — 
one  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  the  other  the  Naval 
Academy  at  Annapolis. 

The  former  was  projected  in  1790  by  General  Knox,  then 
Secretary  of  "War,  recommended  by  President  Washington ; 
went  into  operation  in  1794,  and  was  established  at  West  Point 
in  1802.  The  law  allows  one  cadet  to  be  nominated  by  each 
Representative  in  Congress  from  his  district,  and  ten  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  This  would  require  243,  but 
owing  to  the  severity  of  the  examinations,  many  are  sent  away 
every  year,  and  the  complement  of  cadets  is  never  complete. 
There  are  thirty-two  Professors  and  assistants.  Each  cadet  re- 
ceives |28  per  month  for  his  support.  This  institution  costs 
the  United  States  from  $125,000  to  $150,000  a-year. 

The  Naval  Academy  was  founded  in  the  year  1842.  It  has 
usually  about  sixty  pupils,  who  are  receiving  a  very  thorough 
training  from  thirteen  Professors  and  assistants.  The  institu- 
tion costs  the  United  States  the  sum  of  $28,200  per  annum. 


SECTION  II. 

OTHER   COUNTRIES    IN    AMERICA. 

We  are  not  able  to  say  as  much  in  behalf  of  the  progress  of 
education  in  other  parts  of  this  Hemisphere. 

In  the  British  Possessions,  to  the  north  of  us,  there  has  cer- 
tainly been  an  increasing  interest  in  the  subject  of  Education, 
and  a  growing  attention  to  it.  And  yet  there  is  no  system  of 
public  schools  established  in  any  one  of  those  possessions. 
There  has  been  something  done,  especially  in  Canada,  for  the 


AND    REGISTER.  49 

opening  of  Colleges  and  the  advancement  of  education  in  Sec- 
ondary Institutions. 

In  Mexico  we  cannot  report  that  much  progress  has  been 
made,  and  yet  there  has  been  some.  Education  among  the 
masses  is  far  from  being  what  it  is  in  the  United  States ;  nor 
are  the  Colleges  and  Universities  advancing  as  fast  as  one  could 
desire.  The  modes  and  subjects  of  instruction  are  quite  behind 
the  age. 

The  state  of  things  in  South  America  is  various.  In  Chili, 
New  Granada,  and  Venezuela,  the  Governments  have  done 
more  to  promote  education  than  the  others  have  done.  There 
has  been  some  advance  in  all  the  countries  of  South  America, 
as  well  as  in  many  of  the  West  India  Islands,  since  the  com- 
mencement of  this  century, — enough  to  convince  us  that,  with 
proper  efforts  and  encouragement  on  the  part  of  the  Govern- 
ments, the  best  interests  of  education  would  soon  begin  to  make 
good  progress  among  them  all. 

SECTION  III. 

THE    EASTERN     HEMISPHERE. 

Europe. — The  education  of  the  masses  may  be  said  to  be 
emphatically  a  subject  of  interest  both  to  governments  and  phi- 
lanthropists, only  since  the  commencement  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. Whatever  interest  was  felt  in  it  in  preceding  times,  was 
confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  Churches,  and  especially  to 
the  Protestant  Churches. 

The  first  Public  School  System  that  was  established  in  any 
country,  in  modern  days,  so  far  as  we  know,  was  that  of  Scot- 
land, and  this,  in  its  present  form,  dates  only  from  the  year  1616. 
This  system  is  a  peculiar  one.  It  provides  for  at  least  one 
school  for  each  parish,  to  be  supported  out  of  a  portion  of  the 
tiends  or   tenths,  arising  from  certain  lands  which  belonged  in 

3 


60  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrSCT 

former  times  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Churcli,  in  Scotland.* 
There  are  not  far  short  of  one  thousand  parishes  in  Scotland. 
Most  of  them  have  but  one  school  that  is  known  by  the  name 
of  "The  Parish  School,"  and  supported  from  public  funds. 
Some  of  the  larger  and  more  populous  parishes  have  two  or  more 
schools  which  are  supported  by  the  parish.  The  other  schools 
in  each  parish  are  supported  on  the  voluntary  principle,  and 
just  as  if  there  were  no  parish  schools. 

The  grand  peculiarity  of  the  Parish  Schools  in  Scotland  is  the 
fact,  that  they  are  taught  by  men  who  have  ahiiost  without  ex- 
ception received  a  university  education,  and  are  therefore  capa- 
ble of  teaching  Latin  and  Greek,  as  well  as  the  higher  branches 
of  the  Mathematics.  They  are  in  fact  Classical  as  well  as 
common  English  schools,  and  a  large  number  of  the  youth  who 
frequent  them  study  Latin  and  Greek,  and  many  of  them  go 
fi'om  them  to  the  Universities.  It  is  to  this  state  of  things  that 
Scotland  owes  her  great  superiority  over  England  and  almost 
all  other  countries,  in  the  number  of  her  highly-educated  sons. 
But  this  school  system  has  not  sprung  up  within  the  present 
century,  and  it  is  the  only  one  in  Europe  that  has  not. 

As  to  England  and  Wales,  it  is  only  within  a  few  years  that  any 
attempt. has  been  made  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  Public  School 
System  for  the  benefit  of  all  classes.  But  little  progress  has  as 
yet  been  made.  Great  difficulty  has  been  encountered  on  ac- 
count of  the  position  in  which  ecclesiastical  matters  stand  in 
that  country.  The  Established  Church  has  contended  for  a 
controlling  influence  over  the  proposed  system  of  public  schools, 
which  the  Dissenters  do  not  deem  to  be  proper.  This  is  a  dif- 
ficulty which  is  sure  to  exist,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  in 
every  coimtry  where  there  is  a  national  and  overshadowing 

*  The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  it  is  believed,  possessed  in  one  way 
and  another,  tlirough  its  churches,  schools,  convents,  etc.,  one  half  of 
the  lands  in  Scotland  before  the  Reformation  ! 


AND    REGISTER.  51 

Church  united  to  the  State,  and  uplield  by  it.  There  is  a  vast 
amount  of  very  gross  popuhir  ignorance  in  the  mining  and  rural 
districts,  as  well  as  in  the  large  cities  and  manufacturing  towns 
of  England.  And  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  Sunday  Schools, 
which  have  received  their  extensive  establishment  chiefly  during 
the  present  century,  we  hardly  know  how  the  poorest  classes 
of  England  could,  in  many  places,  have  received  any  education 
at  all. 

Ireland  has  had,  for  the  last  seven  or  eight  years,  a  Public 
School  System,  which  is  gradually  establishing  itself  in  the  af- 
fections of  the  people,  and  gaining  ground  in  all  directions,  not- 
withstanding the  opposition  which  is  so  generally  made  by  the 
hierarchy  of  Rome.  This  School  System  promises  to  be  a  great 
blessing  to  that  long-neglected,  misgoverned,  and  priest-ridden, 
but  warm-hearted,  gifted  people. 

On  the  Continent,  the  first  great  movement  in  the  cause  of 
popular  education  v/as  made  in  Prussia,  where  a  school  system 
was  commenced  nearly  forty  years  ago,  and  perfected  by  the 
late  Monarch,  that  has  been  introduced  into  all  parts  of  Ger- 
many, and  even  into  the  Germanic  and  Italian  portion  of  the 
Austrian  Empire.  Frederick  the  Great  had  established  some 
Normal  Schools  in  Silesia, — and  this  is  the  only  feature  of  the 
Prussian  School  System  which  does  not  owe  its  existence  to 
the  efforts  of  Frederick  William  III.  This  system  is  remark- 
ably perfect  in  its  details.  The  teachers  are,  for  the  most  part, 
highly  competent,  the  school-books  have  been  prepared  with 
great  care,  and  there  are  legal  provisions  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
ensure  with  almost  entire  certainty  the  attendance  of  the  chil- 
dren. As  we  have  just  said,  the  Prussian  School  System  is 
now  established  in  all  parts  of  Germany. 

Holland  has  an  excellent  School  System,  which  is,  perhaps, 
too  much  under  the  influence  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church 
to  be  entirely  equal  and  fair  towards  all  the  denominations  of 
Christians.     M.  Cousin,  of  France,  has  given  a  very  interesting 


52  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

account  of  the  School  System  of  Holland  as  well  as  that  of 
Prussia. 

Denmark  has  likewise  a  very  good  system  of  Public  Schools, 
and  so  have  most  of  the  Protestant  Cantons  of  Switzerland. 

France  has  only  had  a  system  of  Primary  Schools  supported 
by  law  since  the  year  1833.  It  is  modelled  after  the  Prussian 
system  in  a  good  degree.  M.  Guizot,  who  was  at  that  time 
the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  under  the  government  of 
Louis  Philippe,  was  the  author  of  this  great  measure.  Nearly 
sixty  Normal  Schools  have  been  founded  for  the  preparation  of 
teachers,  and  about  two  thousand  persons  leave  them  every 
year  to  enter  upon  the  business  of  teaching  a  school.  The 
schools  are  aided  partly  by  the  departmental  governments,  and 
partly  by  the  communes  (or  townships),  whilst  the  teachers 
must  receive  a  portion  of  their  support  from  the  parents  of  the 
children.  The  system  is  in  the  main  a  good  one,  or  at  least  as 
good  as  could  be  expected  in  so  short  a  time.  It  encounters 
many  obstacles,  one  of  which  is  the  frequent  change  of  Prefects 
of  the  Departments. 

The  Government  of  Belgium  established  the  excellent  School 
System  of  Prussia  not  long  after  the  Revolution  of  1830,  which 
is  producing  good  fruits.  The  Jesuits  have  given  much  trouble 
— first  by  opposing  the  scheme,  and  then,  failing  in  that,  by  try- 
ing to  gain  an  undue  influence  over  the  schools.  The  Government 
has  not,  however,  been  wanting  in  vigilance  and  impartiality. 

The  united  Scandinavian  kingdoms  of  Norway  and  Sweden 
Lave  no  system  of  Public  Schools,  but  will  have,  it  is  probable, 
before  long.  Last  year  the  enlightened  Monarch  of  those  coun- 
tries sent  a  young  Professor  of  Upsala  to  examine  our  School 
Systems,  and  report  fully  upon  them,  for  the  purpose  of  pre- 
paring the  way  for  the  introduction  of  a  plan  of  Public 
Schools. 

A  great  deal  has  been  done  n  Russia,  since  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present  century,  tc   promote  the  education  of  the 


AND    REGISTER.  53 

raasses.  In  the  year  1846,  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction 
informed  us  that  the  number  of  pupils  in  the  schools  on  the 
Public  Domains,  together  with  those  in  the  schools  in  the  army, 
the  students  in  the  Colleges  and  Universities,  the  cadets  (of 
whom  there  were  nearly  10,000)  in  the  twenty-four  Military 
Schools,  and  those  in  the  Naval  \Yas  not  far  from  half  a  milhon. 
This  statement  includes  those  only  who  belong  to  the  educational 
establishments  which  are  under  the  direction  of  the  Minister  of 
Public  Instruction.  The  number  of  pupils  in  the  private 
schools  in  Russia  we  have  not  been  able  to  learn. 

In  Spain  and  Portugal  little  or  nothing  is  doing  by  the  Gov- 
ernments for  the  promotion  of  schools,  although  w^e  believe  that 
the  subject  has  been  somewhat  agitated  of  late  years. 

In  Italy,  with  the  exception  of  Lombardy  and  Tuscany,  there 
was  nothing  that  could  be  called  a  System  of  Public  Schools  a 
few  years  ago.  We  are  happy  to  say  that  the  Government  of 
Sardinia  is  taking  hold  of  the  question  of  Popular  Education 
among  its  five  millions  of  subjects  with  much  zeal.  It  gives  us 
great  pleasure  to  state  that  in  the  Protestant  community  of  the 
Waldenses,  who  have  their  "  Mountain  home"  in  that  kingdom, 
an  admirable  School  System  has  been  brought  into  operation, 
greatly  through  the  aid  of  British  Christians,  and  especially  of 
General  Beckwith,  which  now  consists  of  1  College,  3  Gram- 
mar Schools,  8  Girls'  Schools,  15  Parish  Schools,  and  127 
Hamlet  Schools, — in  all  154  ;  in  which  there  are  4,820  pupils. 
The  present  Pope,  at  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  showed  a 
very  laudable  interest  in  the  subject  of  popular  education.  We 
fear  that  his  zeal  has  greatly  diminished  since  the  occurrences 
of  1848  and  1849.  It  is  to  be  expected  that  his  Holiness  will 
henceforth  prefer  the  old  opinions  and  practice  of  the  Holy  See 
in  education,  as  well  as  in  political  affairs. 

It  is  interesting  to  see  that  even  the  Turkish  Government  is 
catching  the  spirit  of  the  Age,  and  is  talking  of  having  a  System 
of  Public  Schools  in  its  empire, — a  task  which  will  demand 


64  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

all  tlie  energies  of  Rescliid  Pailia  and  the  otlier  ministers  of 
Sultan  Abdul-Medjid. 

But  in  no  country  in  Europe  has  the  cause  of  Primary  Edu- 
cation made  more  cheering  progress  than  in  the  little  kingdom 
of  Greece,  emerging  as  it  is  out  of  the  ruin  in  which  the  Revo- 
lution of  1821-28  left  it.  When  we  were  there,  in  1846,  there 
were  nearly  four  hundred  Primary  Schools,  four  Gymnasia,  and 
one  University.*  And  although  there  was  a  great  want  of 
good  school  accommodations,  and  of  books,  slates,  etc.,  it  was 
in  the, highest  degree  cheering  to  see  the  great  desire  of  the 
children  and  youth  of  that  poor  people  to  obtain  an  education. 
2VII  this  beautiful  movement  is  the  fruit  of  a  few  years  of  National 
Independence.  The  Government  is  doing  much  in  behalf  of  the 
cause,  and  wealthy  Greeks,  residing  for  the  most  part  out  of  the 
country — at  Corfu,  Trieste,  Salonica,  Smyrna,  Constantinople,  etc., 
— have  done  much  for  the  land  of  their  ancestors  in  this  respect. 
They  have  given  most  liberally  to  found  the  Gymnasia,  as  well 
as  the  University,  its  Library,  and  its  admirable  Observatory. 

From  this  survey,  it  appears  that  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  a 
large  portion  of  Italy,  Turkey,  all  the  Austrian  Empire,  except 
the  Germanic  and  Italian  portions,  and  the  entire  Russian  Em- 
pire, there  is  nothing  which  can  be  called  a  Public  System  of 
Primary  Schools,  and  that  Sweden  and  Norway  are  only  be- 
ginning to  move  in  behalf  of  this  great  and  fundamental  meas- 
ure, the  true  basis  of  all  national  prosperity  and  of  national 
freedom. 

We  can  only  add  a  few  words  respecting  Secondary  Instruction 
in  Europe.  Since  the  year  1800  much  progress  has  been  made 
in  this  direction  also.  In  almost  all  countries  in  that  part  of 
the  world,  a  good  deal  has  been  done  to  encourage  higher 
schools  and  colleges.     In  Ireland  the  English  Government  has 

*  The  University  is  at  Athens,  and  has  26  Professors,  and  250  stu- 
dents. Of  tlie  Gymnasia,  one  is  in  Athens,  one  in  Chalcis,  one  at  Patras, 
and  one  in  Syra. 


AND    REGISTER.  55 

established  several  Colleges  within  a  year  or  two,  to  which 
great  opposition  has  been  made  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Hie- 
rarchy, under  the  pretext  that  the  instruction  which  is  given 
in  them  is  infidel.  This  is  Rome's  usual  position.  In  other 
words, — everything  is  infidel,  or  tends  to  infidelity,  in  the  shape 
of  instruction,  which  is  not  in  her  hands  ! 

The  London  University,  King's  College,  Durham  University, 
and  several  Colleges  among  the  Dissenters,  have  been  opened 
in  England  since  the  commencement  of  the  present  century. 
In  France  almost  everything  in  the  shape  of  Higher  Instruction, 
or  Secondary  Institutions,  has  been  the  work  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. In  Belgium,  one,  if  not  more  of  the  four  Universities  of 
that  country  has  been  founded  during  this  century.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Christiania,  in  Norway,  was  founded  several  years 
after  the  commencement  of  this  centurj- — we  believe  about  the 
year  1816. 

The  higlier  literary  institutions  of  Germany,  Austria,  Russia, 
Spain,  Portugal,  Italy,  and  Turkey,*  have  undergone  but  little 
change  since  this  century  began.  Those  of  Greece,  as  we  have 
said,  have  sprung  up  since  the  Revolution  of  1821-28,  which 
liberated  that  country  from  the  domination  of  the  Turks. 

Upon  the  whole,  Education,  Primary  and  Secondary,  has 
made  much  progress  in  Europe  since  the  XlXth  century  com- 
menced. 

SECTION  IV. 

ASIA    AND    AFRICA. 

There  is  httle  to  be  said  respecting  the  progress  of  Education 
in  the  rest  of  the  Old  World  since  the  year  1800.  The  most 
interesting  progress  has  been  in  India,  in  Ceylon,  in  some  islands 

*  The  most  interesting  literary  institution  iu  Turkey  is  the  Collega 
at  Bebek,  on  the  Bosphorus,  founded  by  the  American  Missionaries. 


56  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT. 

in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  in  our  American  colonies  along  the  wes- 
tern coast  of  Africa,  in  the  founding  of  Mission  Schools  by  Prot- 
estant Missionaries.  Some  of  them  are  of  a  high  grade,  and 
even  deserve  the  name  of  Colleges.  These  institutions  ought  to 
be  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  philanthropist  as  well  as  the  Chris- 
tian, for  such  seminaries  of  learning  will  have  a  great  bearing 
upon  the  progress  of  Christianity  and  Civilization  in  those 
countries. 

Here  we  bring  our  remarks,  respecting  the  Progress  of  Edu- 
cation in  the  first  half  of  the  XlXth  century,  to  a  close.  It  is 
necessarily  brief,  but  it  will  probably  suffice  to  give  some  con- 
ception of  the  progress  which  the  world  has  made  in  this  re- 
spect during  the  period  under  review. 


CHAPTEE  lY. 

FREEDOM  OF  THE  PEESS — ITS  PROGRESS — NEWSPAPERS 
AND  OTHER  FORMS  OF  PERIODICAL  INFORMATION 
AND   LITERATURE. 

SECTION  I. 
AMERICA. 

United  States. — The  liberty  of  the  Press,  so  far  as  any  ac- 
tion of  the  Government  General  or  State  is  concerned,  became 
as  complete  as  it  could  be  in  the  early  part  of  this  century. 
We  are  not  aware  that  since  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, which  lasted  from  1801  to  1809,  any  suit  at  law  has  been 
brought  against  any  editor  or  any  one  else,  native  or  foreign, 
by  the  United  States  Government.  Nor  are  we  informed  of 
any  prosecution  of  this  nature  having  been  made  by  the  State 
Governments.  The  Government  of  this  country — in  other  words, 
our  political  institutions — is  too  well  founded  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  to  make  it  necessary  to  notice  anything  which  some 
noisy  declaimer,  or  any  hostile  editor,  whether  conducting  a 
paper  for  the  use  of  Americans,  or  for  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
unnatuialized  foreigners  who  sojourn  for  a  while  among  us,  may 
be  able  to  say  or  to  publish.  This  fact  demonstrates,  on  the 
one  hand,  the  stability  of  our  political  government,  and  on  the 
other,  the  wisdom  of  those  who  are  intrusted  with  the  task  of 
carrying  it  on.  It  may  be  said,  therefore,  with  truth,  that  the 
liberty  of  the  Press  is  perfect  among  us, — as  perfect  as  it  can, 
probably,  be  made, — being  restrained  only  by  the  laws  which 

3* 


68  ciirasTiAN  retrospect 

guarantee  tlie  rights  of  individuals  and  tlie  demands  of  morality 
and  propriety.  As  to  tlie  measures  of  the  Government,  General 
or  State,  and  the  principles  and  conduct  of  parties,  they  are 
subjects  for  unrestricted  discussion ;  and  so  are  the  qualifica- 
tions, and,  to  some  extent,  the  characters  of  office-holders,  and 
candidates  for  the  suffrages  of  their  fellow-citizens.  There 
may  be,  and  there  often  is,  gross  abuse  of  this  almost  unbound- 
ed freedom  of  the  Press,  but  the  evil  is  not  without  counter- 
action in  divers  ways,  and  especially  through  the  very  freedom 
in  question.  At  all  events,  whatever  may  be  the  injury  result- 
ing from  this  freedom's  occasionally  degenerating  into  licentious- 
ness, greater  evils  result,  in  every  country  that  tries  them,  from  at- 
tempts to  prevent  them  by  governmental  interference  with  the 
Press. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

The  United  States,  as  might  be  expected  from  the  great  free- 
dom of  the  Press  which  is  enjoyed,  is  emphatically  a  newspaper- 
producing  and  newspaper-reading  country.  In  the  year  1800, 
there  were,  it  is  believed,  about  two  hundred  newspapers  pub- 
lished in  this  country,  of  which  seventeen  were  issued  daily, 
seven  three  times  a-week,  thirty  twice  a-week,  and  the  remain- 
der once  a-week.  In  1810,  there  were  three  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight;  in  1828,  the  number  was  eight  hundred  and  two;  in 
1839,  it  was  fifteen  hundred  and  fifty -five;  and  in  1850,  it  is 
believed  that  it  was  not  less  than  three  thousand. 

In  1 800,  there  were  sixty-five  newspapers  in  the  six  New 
England  States;  in  1842,  there  were  223.  The  number  in  the 
Middle  States,  in  1800,  was  '74 ;  in  1842,  it  was  513. 

In  the  year  1842,  the  State  of  New  York  had  245  news- 
papers;  Pennsylvania,  187;  Ohio,  123;  Massachusetts,  91; 
Indiana,  73  ;  and  Virginia,  51. 

In  1850,  there  were  371  newspapers  in  the  New  England 
States,  and  in  the  State  of  New  York,  460.  Of  the  rest  of  the 
country  we  have  not  yet  received  the  statistics. 


AND    REGISTER.  59 

For  a  long  time  the  newspapers  of  tliis  country  were  con- 
ducted in  a  very  economical  manner.  The  proprietor  was  often 
both  editor  and  printer,  and  with  the  aid  of  an  apprentice  or 
two,  and  perhaps  a  journeyman  occasionally,  was  enabled  to 
getJiis  small  sheet,  one  half,  and  sometimes  three  fourth  parts 
of  which  were  occupied  with  advertisements,  through  the  press 
once  a  week.  And  this  is  the  case  still  with  many  of  the  pa- 
pers published  in  the  villages  and  country  towns.  But  in  the 
large  cities,  great  papers  have,  of  late  years,  sprung  up,  which 
require,  especially  those  which  are  issued  daily,  a  large  number 
of  compositors  and  pressmen,  and  one,  two,  and  sometimes 
three  or  four  editors  and  assistant-editors.  And  instead  of  pub- 
lishing only  items  of  news,  domestic  and  foreign,  they  now  often 
contain  elaborate  articles  on  almost  all  subjects,  written  with 
much  talent,  and  furnished  by  editors  or  correspondents.  A 
wonderful  advance  has  been  made  within  ten  years  even ;  whilst 
the  difference  between  the  newspapers  published  in  our  chief 
cities  at  present,  and  those  which  were  published  twenty-five 
years  ago — to  say  nothing  of  fifty  years  ago — is  immense.  The 
employment,  too,  of  travelling  and  stationary  correspondents  in 
the  most  important  countries  al^road,  is  a  new  feature  in  the 
conduct  of  the  new^spapers  of  this  country,  as  well  as  of  Eng- 
land, France,  and  Germany,  which  is  of  great  importance,  and 
of  very  recent  origin. 

In  the  early  portion  of  the  Colonial  Era  of  what  is  now  the 
United  States,  there  was  not  one  newspaper  in  the  country. 
The  first  that  was  published  was  the  "  £osto7i  Nev)s- Letter ^^'' 
commenced  in  1704;  the  second  was  the  ^'■Boston  Gazette^'' 
in  IT  19;  the  third  was  the  '•'■American  Weekly  Mercury^''  at 
Philadelphia,  in  the  same  year.  The  first  newspaper  published  in 
the  city  of  New  York  was  the  ^^  New  York  Gazette^'  in  1725. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  American  Revolution  (l77o), 
there  were  but  37  newspapers  in  all  the  colonies.  It  would  seem 
that  some  of  the  Royal  Governors  looked  upon  the  Press  very 


60  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

much  as  do  some  of  the  despotic  rulers  of  our  day.  Governor 
Berkley,  of  Virginia,  in  1675,  said:  "I  thank  God  that  we 
have  no  free  schools  nor  printing  presses,  and  I  hope  that  we 
shall  not  have  any  for  a  hundred  years ;  for  learning  has 
brought  disobedience,  and  heresy,  and  sects  into  the  world,  and 
printing  has  divulged  them,  and  libelled  governments.  God 
keep  us  from  both !"  Lord  Effingham,  who  was  Governor  of 
the  same  colony,  in  1G83,  was  ordered  "to  allow  no  person  to 
use  a  printing  press  on  any  occasion  w^hatever." 

Newspapers  are  now  made  the  vehicles  of  all  sorts  of  intel- 
ligence. There  are  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  reh- 
gious  newspapers,  it  is  believed,  in  the  United  States,  almost  all 
of  which  contain  a  considerable  amount  of  secular  and  political 
news  in  a  condensed  form,  w-hilst  the  greater  part  of  their  con- 
tents consists  of  news  relating  to  the  cause  of  Religion,  at  home 
and  abroad.  Periodicals  of  an  octavo  or  quarto  form,  devoted 
to  religious  matters,  existed  long  ago  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe ;  but  the  first  religious  newspaper,  it  is  maintained,  of 
the  form  which  has  now  become  so  common  in  this  country, 
was  published  in  Boston,  in  Januarj^,  1816,  and  was  called  the 
"Boston  Becorder.^^*  Since  that  day  the  number  has  increased 
very  rapidly,  until  there  are  now,  iis  has  been  stated,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  such  journals.  Some  of  these,  such  as  the 
J^eiv  York  Observe?^  the  Heiu  York  Evangelist^  the  Christian 

*  This  is  the  position  of  Mr.  Sidney  E.  Morse,  who  was  the  editor  of  the 
Boston  Recorder,  at  the  time  referred  to,  and  who  founded  the  New  York 
Observer,  in  the  year  1823.  But  although  tliis  may  be  true,  so  far  as  a 
first  successful  experiment  of  a  plan  may  be,  in  some  sense,  a  just  claim 
to  the  invention,  it  is,  nevertheless,  unquestionably  true,  that  a  religious 
newspaper,  conducted  on  the  plan  on  which  the  Boston  Recorder  was 
published,  was  printed  at  Chilicothe,  Ohio,  by  the  late  Rev.  John  An- 
drews, as  early  as  1815,  if  not  earlier.  In  fact,  Mr.  Morse  stands  very 
much  in  the  same  relation  to  the  Religious  Newspapers  that  his  excellent 
brother,  the  Professor,  does  to  the  Electric  Telegraph,  or  as  Mr.  FultoQ 
does  to  the  Steamboat. 


AND    REGISTEU.  61 

Advocate,  the  Presbyterian,  tlie  jS^ew  York  Recorder,  the  In- 
dependent, and  many  others,  have  a  veiy  wide  circulation.  It 
would  probably  be  within  the  limits  of  the  truth  to  say  that 
the  weekly  issues  of  the  Religious  Newspaper  Press  exceed  half 
a  miUion  copies.  The  influence  of  so  many  sheets,  some  of 
which  contain  matter  enough  to  make  a  duodecimo  volume  of 
150  or  160  pages,  if  not  more,  must  be  very  great,  sent  abroad 
as  the}'  are  to  all  parts  of  the  land,  and  each  of  them  containing, 
besides  much  religious  news,  many  excellent  articles,  original  or 
selected,  on  those  doctrines  and  precepts  of  Christianity  which 
are  at  once  the  foundation  and  the  fruit  of  a  holy  life. 

Besides  Religious  Newspapers,  we  have  now  a  great  number 
of  papers  devoted  to  the  advocacy  of  many  special  measures 
and  objects, — such  as  Temperance  Papers,  Anti-Slavery  Papers, 
Moral  Reform  Papers,  x\gricultural  Papers,  Scientific  Papers, 
Educational  Papers,  Anti-Masonic  Papers,  etc.  Every  great  in- 
terest or  movement  has  its  own  paper  to  serve  as  an  organ  by 
which  its  influence  may  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  public 
mind.  We  know  not  the  number  of  such  papers,  but  it  must 
be  very  great.  Some  of  the  Aborigines  on  our  borders  have 
newspapers  in  their  ov/n  languages.  This  is  the  case  with  the 
Choctaws  and  Cherokee?. 

Although,  as  a  general  thing,  the  tone  of  the  more  respecta- 
ble and  well-conducted  Newspaper  Press  is  in  the  main  deci- 
dedly salutary,  it  must  be  confessed  that  there  is  a  class  of  pa- 
pers, conducted  with  a  certain  degree  of  talent,  and  circulating 
among  the  less  educated,  and  less  w^ealthy,  industrial  ranks  of 
society,  which  are  exceedingly  injurious  to  good  morals.  Some 
of  them  are  pubhshed  on  the  Sabbath,  or  circulated  on  that 
day.  Quite  a  large  number  are  published  in  foreign  languages, 
especially  the  German,  and  are  very  hostile  to  everything  that 
bears  the  mark  of  Christianity."^ 

*  Some  of  the  worst  papers  in  this  land  are  published  in  German,  by 
men  who  seem  to  rejoice  in  pouring  forth  in  the  columns  of  such  pa- 


62  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

So  great  is  the  circulation  of  some  of  tlie  daily  newspapers  in 
our  chief  cities,  that  presses  driven  by  steam  are  now  demanded 
to  enable  the  conductors  of  them  to  supply  the  subscribers  in 
reasonable  time.  By  means  of  this  great  power,  and  by  the 
use  of  Mr.  Hoe's  wonderful  press,  which  can  be  made  to  throw 
off  many  thousands  of  sheets  in  an  hour,  the  papers  of  the 
greatest  circulation  can  be  printed  and  sent  forth,  in  the  course 
of  a  few  hours,  every  morning  or  evening.  There  is  no  depart- 
ment of  art  in  the  United  States,  in  which  greater  progress 
has  been  made  during  the  last  25  or  30  years  than  in  that  of 
printing,  especially  in  printing  newspapers  with  rapidity  and 
facility. 

MAGAZINES,    REVIEWS,    AND    OTHER     MONTHLY    AND    QUARTERLY 
PUBLICATIONS. 

There  were  but  few  Monthly  Publications  of  any  description 
in  the  United  States  before  the  commencement  of  this  century.* 
In  1810,  it  is  estimated  that  there  were  twenty-six  of  this  class 
of  journals  amongst  us ;  in  1835,  it  is  su})posed  that  there  were 
one  hundred  and  forty;  and  in  1850,  about  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five. 

Within  a  few  years,  some  periodicals  of  this  description  have 
attained  to  a  vast  circulation  in  this  country.  Grahain's  Maga- 
zine, Godeifs  Magazine,  Sariahi's  Magaz'me  (all  pubhshed  in 
Philadelphia),  and  some  others,  have  from  15,000  or  20,000 
up  to  30,000  or  40,000.  They  employ  the  pens  of  some  of 
the  most  talented  writers  among  us ;  but  their  contents  are,  for 
the  most  part,  articles  in  prose  and  poetry  of  a  light  and  popu- 
lar, but  not  very  instructive  nature.     They  make  no  pretensions 

pers,  now  that  they  have  reached  a  land  of  political  and  religious  liberty, 
their  unmitigaled  hatred  of  everything  like  religion. 

*  Aitkins  Pen7isi/Ivania  Magazine,  the  American  3fuseuin  (from 
lis'?  to  1792),  the  American  Monthly  Magazine  (1715  to  1748),  and 
Massachusetts  Magazine  (1784  to  1795)  were  the  most  noted- 


AXD    REGISTER.  63 

to  the  character  and  claims  of  Reviews.  This  species  of  litera- 
ture has  wonderfully  increased  among  us  within  the  last  twenty- 
five  years,  and  especially  within  ten  years. 

Of  secular  and  literary  Monthly  Reviews,  properly  so  called, 
we  have  the  KnickerhocTcer,  the  Southern  Literary  Messen- 
ger^ Hunfs  Merchants'  Magazine,  the  Christian  Examiner,  thp> 
American  Bevieiv,  the  Democratic  Revieiv,  and  a  few  others,—  , 
all  of  them  highly  creditable  to  the  country. 

Of  Quarterly  Reviews,  whether  literary  or  scientific,  we  have 
not  many.  The  North  American  Mevieiv,  commenced  at  Cam- 
bridge, in  1815,  and  SilUman''s  Journal,  commenced  at  New 
Haven,  in  1817,  do  honor  to  the  country.  The  American 
Quarterly  Review  (from  1827  to  1837),  and  the  Southern 
Quarterly  Review  (from  1828  to  1833),  the  former  published 
at  Philadelphia  and  the  latter  at  Charleston,  were  for  sev- 
eral years  very  ably  conducted ;  but  both  had  a  short  exist- 
ence.=^  To  these  we  may  add  the  Boston  Quarterly  Revieio 
(Brownson's),  Massachusetts  Quarterly,  and  StryJcer''s  Ameri- 
can Register. 

The  Religious  Quarterlies  have  developed  no  inconsiderable 
amount  of  talent,  and  their  number  has  become  quite  respecta- 
ble. The  Biblical  Repertory,  published  at  Princeton,  and 
commenced  in  1824,  the  American  Biblical  Repository,  com- 
menced at  Andover,  in  1831,  united  with  the  Quarterly  Obser- 
ver, in  1833,  with  the  American  Spectator,  in  1839,  and  with 
the  Bibliotheca  Sacra  (an  able  critical,  exegetical  and  literary 
Quarterly,  which  was  published  in  Andover,  from  the  year 
1844),  in  1850.  The  JVew  Englander  commenced  in  New 
Haven,  in  1843,  the  Christian  Review,  the  Methodist  Quar- 
terly Revieiv,  the  Mercersburg  Revieiv,  and  some  others,  belong 
to  this  category. 

*  The  Southern  Review  was  revived  in  1842  ;  but  though  a,bly  con- 
ducted, it  is  not  what  it  was  in  the  hands  of  the  late  talented  and 
lamented  Legare. 


64  C1IHI3TIAX    IlErrulSPECT 

There  is  quite  a  number  of  able  Medical  and  Law  Journals, 
wliieli  are  of  nuich  r^-pute,  and  all  of  them,  we  believe,  have 
sprung  up  since  the  commencement  of  this  century. 

Four  of  the  great  Quarterly  Reviews  of  England, — the  Lon- 
don Quarterh/  Review^  the  Edinhuygh  Review,  tlie  Westminster 
Review,  the  North  British  Review,  together  with  Blackwood's 
Magazine  (monthly),  are  republished  in  the  United  States. 
Besides  this,  there  are  such  works  as  the  Eclectic  Magazine^ 
Harper'' s  Magazine,  the  International  Magazine  (and  Littell's 
Living  Age,  loeeJdg,  may  be  included),  which  are  either  wholly, 
or  nearly  so,  composed  of  articles  selected  from  the  British  and 
other  foreign  Periodicals.  For  a  long  time  the  London  Chris- 
tian Observer  was  republished  in  the  United  States, — one  of  the 
best  Religious  Magazines  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

Taken  in  the  widest  sense  of  the  phrase,  the  periodical  litera- 
ture of  the  United  States,  indigenous  and  foreign,  is  immense 
— embracing  the  Newspapers,  and  the  Monthly  and  Quarterly 
Magazines  and  Reviews.  The  regular  issues, — daily,  tri-weekly, 
monthly,"^'  and  quarterly, — amount  to  several  millions ;  and  the 
entire  number  of  copies,  in  the  course  of  a  year,  must  be  many 
millions. 


SECTION  IL 

OTHER    PARTS    OF    AMERICA. 

The  increase  of  newspapers  and  other  forms  of  periodical 
publication  has  been  great,  also,  in  other  parts  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere.     This  has  been  the  case  in  the  British  Possessions, 

*  The  Monthly  Magazines  and  Papers  published  by  the  Religious 
Societies  of  the  United  States  have  a  vast  circulation, — amounting  prob- 
ably to  not  much  less  than  half  a  million  of  copies  each  month.  And 
all  this  has  sprung  up  long  since  the  commencement  of  the  XlXth 
century. 


AND    REGISTER.  65 

north  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  in  those  in  the  West 
India  Islands.  How  great  that  increase  has  been  we  are  not 
able  to  say  with  precision.  It  would  not  be  hazardous,  judging 
from  such  data  as  we  have,  to  say  that  it  has  been  four-fold,  at 
least.  And  many  of  these  colonial  journals  are  edited  with 
decided  ability. 

And  although  the  number  of  newspapers  and  other  periodi- 
cals published  among  th6  nations  in  America,  North  and  South, 
which  are  of  Latin  origin  (Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  French), 
bears  no  comparison  with  that  of  those  which  are  published 
among  the  people  of  Anglo-Saxon  descent,  it  is,  nevertheless, 
quite  considerable,  and  cannot  be  overlooked.  The  number  of 
newspapers  published  in  Mexico,  the  States  of  Central  America, 
Hayti,  the  Republics  of  South  America,  together  with  Brazil,  is 
incomparably  greater  than  it  was  at  the  commencement  of  this 
century.  In  fact,  it  was,  at  that  epoch,  almost  nothing  at  all. 
Now  it  is  considerable,  and  constantly,  though  not  rapidly,  in- 
creasing.    This  is  indeed  cheering,  and  gives  hope  for  the  future. 


SECTION  III. 

EUROPE. 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland. — The  Press  having  been  lono- 
freed  from  all  censorship  in  the  British  Realm,  it  may  readily 
be  supposed  that  its  issues  in  all  the  forms  of  literature,  occa- 
sional and  periodical,  in  books,  in  pamphlets,  and  in  sheets, 
would  be  exceedingly  numerous.  Heavy  duties,  in  one  form  or 
another,  operate  as  a  great  drawback,  especially  in  the  case  of 
newspapers,  on  which  there  is  a  stamp-duty  of  one  penny  on 
each  copy. 

Neivspai^ers. — The  number  of  newspapers  published  in  Eng- 
land before  the  commencement  of  the  18th  centur}^,  was  very 
inconsiderable.     The  first  that  was  printed,  although  it  bore  but 


60  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

little  resemblance  to  the  newspapers  of  our  day,  was  the 
"  WeeJdy  Newest'  published  by  Nathaniel  Butler,  in  1622.  The 
first  paper  that  might  be  called  a  vehicle  of  general  information, 
was  established  by  Sir  Roger  L'Estrange,  in  1663,  and  was 
called  the  Public  Intelligencer.  "We  have  no  means  of  know- 
ing the  number  of  newspapers  in  England  in  the  year  lYOO. 
In  the  year  1713  stamps  were  first  employed.  In  the  year 
1*753,  the  number  of  stamps  was  only  7,41 1,757,  in  1800,  it 
was  no  more  than  16,084,905  ;  but  in  1849,  it  was  76,569,285 
— a  fact  that  demonstrates  how  rapidly  the  circulation  of  news- 
papers has  augmented  in  the  United  Kingdom  since  the  com 
mencement  of  this  century. 

At  the  epoch  last  named  (1849),  the  number  of  newspapers 
in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  was  603  :  namely,  160  in  London 
282  in  the  counties  of  England  and  the  Principality  of  Wales ; 
117  in  Ireland,  and  94  in  Scotland.  The  number  of  advertise- 
ments, during  that  year,  in  the  newspapers  of  the  United  King- 
dom was  2,182,272,  yielding  to  the  crown  a  revenue  of  £158,- 
114  165.,  or  about  $785,570. 

Many  of  the  newspapers  published  in  the  British  Kealm  are 
edited  with  great  talent.  Li  this  respect  the  London  Times 
stands  pre-em.inent.  In  its  columns  constantly  appear  some  of 
the  finest  specimens  of  a  vigorous  and  ornate  style  to  be  found 
in  the  English  language.  The  political  influence  of  this  paper 
is  immense,  and  yet  there  is,  sometimes,  a  sad  want  of  honest 
principle,  and  of  a  reasonable,  generous,  and  Christian  spiiit  in 
its  editorial  columns.  The  Morning  Chronicle,  the  Herald,  the 
Standard,  the  Daily  News,  and  others  might  be  mentioned  as 
journals  conducted  with  singular  ability.  Many  of  the  news- 
papers published  in  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Dublin,  Belfast,  Liver- 
pool, Manchester,  Birmingham,  and  other  principal  provincial 
cities  and  towns,  display  much  editorial  talent  and  skill,  although 
far  from  being  equal  to  the  great  papers  of  the  Great  Me- 
tropolis. 


AND    REGISTER.  67 

Periodical  Puhlicaiions. — The  Periodical  Literature  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  is  very  extensive,  and  has  no  rival  in  any 
land.  The  number  of  Monthlies  and  Quarterlies, — Literarj^ 
Theological,  Legal,  and  Medical, — is  very  great,  and  many  of 
them  are  conducted  with  ability.  The  Edinhurgh  Revieio,  the 
London  Quarterhj,  the  Westminster  Review  (now  united  with 
the  Foreign  Quarterly)^  the  North  British  Review^  the  British 
Revieiv,  the  Dublin  Revieuj — all  come  into  existence  since  the 
commencement  of  the  XlXtli  centurj^ — have  contained  some 
of  the  ablest  essays  on  great  questions  in  Literature,  and  Criti- 
cism, in  Jurisprudence,  Law,  Science,  and  Art,  to  be  found  in 
the  English  language.  Many  of  the  Monthly  Magazines  and 
Reviews  are  conducted  with  scarcely  less  talent.  The  progress 
of  England,  in  this  great  branch  of  Human  Effort,  during  the 
last  fifty  years,  has  been  incalculable,  and  that  progress  has  had 
a  most  intimate  connection  with  the  best  interests  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

The  Continent. — The  Freedom  of  the  Press  is  very  unequal 
in  the  different  portions  of  the  Continent.  In  those  countries 
^Yhich  possess  the  largest  amount  of  political  liberty,  there  is, 
as  might  be  expected,  the  most  freedom  of  the  Press.  The 
Protestant  countries  have  more  of  both  than  those  which  are 
Papal. 

Scandinavian  Countries. — There  is  more  political  liberty  in 
Norway  than  in  any  other  kingdom  on  the  Continent,  and  there 
the  Press  is  unshackled.  In  1840  there  were  about  twenty 
newspapers  published  in  that  poor  but  interesting  countiy,  a 
few  of  which  were  dailies,  and  the  others  weeklies.  Some  of 
them,  especially  those  in  Christiania,  the  capital,  are  conducted 
by  able  men.*  These  newspapers  have  almost  all  sprung  up 
since  1814. 

*  There  is  a  newspaper  published  in  Tromsoe,  a  village  on  a  small 
island  on  the  coast  of  Norway,  in  latitude  70°.  There  is  no  other 
newspaper  in  (he  world  published  so  far  north. 


G8  CnUISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

V 

There  are  many  newspapers  in  Sweden  and  Denmark,  but 
the  Press  labors  under  considerable  restrictions,  especially  in  the 
former.  There  are,  notwithstanding,  some  able  and  very  inde- 
pendent journals  in  both  those  countries,  and  the  number  of 
newspapers  has  much  increased  within  fifty  years. 

There  is  quite  a  number  of  Monthly  and  Quarterly  Maga- 
zines and  Literary  Reviews  in  the  Scandinavian  Countries. 

Holland. — The  Press  is  in  a  good  measure  unshackled  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Holland,  and  newspapers  and  larger  Periodical 
publications  have  greatly  increased  there  since  the  year  1800. 
We  are  not  able  to  give  the  number  of  either. 

Germany. — There  is  much  more  freedom  of  the  Press  in  the 
Free  Cities,  and  in  Prussia,  and  the  other  Protestant  countries 
of  Germany  than  in  Bavaria,  Austria,  and  the  other  Papal  parts 
of  that  country.  The  Press  is  not,  however,  entirely  free  in 
any  part  of  Germany,  though  it  is  under  far  less  restraint  than 
it  was  at  the  commencement  of  this  century,  or  than  it  was  even 
four  or  five  years  since.  The  number  of  newspapers  has  wonder- 
fully increased  within  a  few  years,  especially  in  Prussia,  and  it 
is  surprising  to  see  with  what  ability  and  courage  political  ques- 
tions are  discussed  in  their  columns,  which  a  few  years  ago  they 
would  not  have  dared  to  touch. 

The  number  of  Semi-Monthly,  Monthly,  and  Quarterly  pub- 
lications in  Germany,  devoted  to  Literature,  both  Classical  and 
Modern,  to  Science,  Art,  Theology,  Law,  Medicine,  etc.,  is  large 
and  increasing.  Until  within  a  very  few  years,  the  German 
mind,  for  want  of  other  subjects  on  which  it  might  employ  its 
energies,  was  shut  up  to  the  pursuits  of.  Learning,  both  as  a 
means  of  living  and  of  enjoyment.  But  a  very  different  day  is 
coming,  and  has  even  now  commenced  to  dawn. 

France. — It  is  now  a  little  more  than  sixty  years  since  France 
began  to  talk  of  poUtical  liberty ;  but  up  to  this  day  she  has 
had  but  few  intervals,  and  they  very  short,  in  which  she  has 
had  anything  like  real  constitutional  freedom.     The  Tress  has, 


AND    REGISTER.  C9 

of  course,  shared  the  fortunes   of  the  State.     A^' hen  there  has 
been  a  moment  of  pohtical  liberty,  the  Press  has  flourished. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  France  was  the  Gazette  de 
France,  established  in  1631.  But  the  number  was  utterly 
insignificant  before  the  great  Revolution  in  1789.  Under  the 
Directory,  the  Consulate,  and  the  Empire,  the  Press  was  under 
great  restraint.  Nor  was  the  state  of  things  much  better  dur- 
ing the  Restoration — from  1814  to  1830.  In  the  reign  of 
Louis  Phihppe  the  newspapers  rapidly  increased  for  a  while,  so 
that  there  were  as  many  as  374  published  in  that  country  in 
the  year  1832.  But  soon  the  conduct  of  the  government  be 
came  extremely  oppressive.  In  utter  violation  of  the  Charte,  or 
Constitution,  of  1830,  no  less  than  1,129  prosecutions  were 
issued  against  publishers  and  writers  for  the  public  press,  during 
this  reign,  the  aggregate  of  whose  punishment  was  3,141  years 
of  imprisonment,  and  fines  to  the  amount  of  more  than  $1,300,- 
000!  The  Revolution  of  1848  flooded  France  with  newspa- 
pers, but  the  Reaction  and  the  Presidency  of  Louis  Napoleon 
have  swept  many  of  them  away.  Still,  the  Press  in  France  has 
great  boldness  and  energy,  and  enjoys  a  large  measure  of  liberty 
in  comparison  with  its  condition  in  the  past. 

France  is  far  from  exceUing  in  great  Periodicals  in  the  shape 
of  Reviews.  Excepting  some  Monthlies,  and  bi-Monthlies,  of 
which  la  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  is  the  most  important,  and 
several  Medical,  Legal,  Scientific,  Agricultural,  and  Theological 
Magazines,  she  has  nothing  in  this  species  of  literature  worthy 
of  mention. 

Spain  and  Portugal. — There  is  a  great  deal  more  hberty  of 
the  Press  in  both  these  countries  than  there  was  thirty  years 
ago,  or  even  twenty ;  and  by  consequence  newspapers  have 
greatly  increased  in  number,  and  improved  in  character.  Of 
the  higher  periodicals  there  are  several  in  both. 

Italy. — Excepting  in  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  it  cannot  be 
said  that  the  Press  now  flourishes  in  Italy.     In  that  kingdom, 


70  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

which  enjoys  a  constitutional  form  of  govermnent,  there  ia  a 
large  amount  of  freedom  of  the  Press,  and  quite  a  number  of 
ably  conducted  ne\yspapers. 

The  Revolutions  of  1848  opened  the  ^vay  for  the  sudden  and 
extensive  establishment  of  a  great  number  of  newsjDapers  in 
Tuscany,  in  Piedmont,  at  Rome,  and  even  in  Naples  and  Sicily. 
But  those  halcyon  days  were  but  few,  and  have  passed  away. 
They  will  yet  return  to  shed  their  happy  influence  upon  the 
now  excited  and  inquiring  mind  of  Italy. 

The  higher  periodical  literature  of  Italy  is  not  extensive ;  it 
is  chiefly  scientific  and  general, — not  political. 

Greece. — The  little  kingdom  of  Greece  had,  in  1846,  when 
we  were  there,  tv/enty-four  newspapers,  all,  with  one  exception, 
published  in  the  modern  Greek.  Eighteen  of  these  newspapers 
were  published  at  Athens,  and  six  at  Patras,  Chalcis,  Syra,  and 
Napoli.  Several  of  the  papers  published  at  Athens  are  daily 
ones,  and  most  of  them  are  conducted  by  able  editors.  They 
are  quite  equal  in  character  and  talent  to  ours.  There  is  noth- 
ing in  Greece  more  interesting  than  her  Schools,  Gymnasia, 
University,  and  Newspapers.  The  Greeks  still  "seek  after 
wisdom." 

Tarhey. — There  is  nothing  worthy  of  mention  in  the  shape 
of  newspapers  and  other  periodicals  in  Turkey.  One  newspa- 
per in  French,  and  not  more  than  one  in  Turkish,  constitute 
the  entire  of  this  species  of  literature  in  Turkey  in  Europe. 

Russia. — There  is  a  considerable  number  of  newspapers  in 
the  Russian  Empire,  probably  as  many  as  150;  but  they  are 
under  a  very  rigid  censorship.  Their  contents,  beyond  the  of- 
ficial announcements  of  the  government,  its  ukases,  etc.,  consist 
of  items  of  intelligence  of  what  is  going  on  in  foreign  lands,  but 
so  stated  as  not  to  inculcate  anything  dangerous  to  the  state  of 
things  in  that  empire. 

There  are  several  periodical  works,  relating  chiefly  to  Science 
and  Art,  Agi-iculture,  etc. 


AND    REGISTER.  71 

SECTION  IV. 

A.SIA,  AFRICA,  AND  THE    ISLANDS  OF  THE  EASTERN    HEMISPHERE, 

There  is  not  raucli  to  be  said  respecting  the  progress  of  Pe- 
riodical Publications  in  the  other  parts  of  the  Eastern  Hemi- 
sphere, but  that  Httle  is  interesting. 

Asia. — India,  under  British  sway,  begins  to  learn  to  appre- 
ciate newspapers,  and  several  have  sprung  up  there,  pubHshed 
in  the  languages  of  the  native  population.  This  movement  will 
exert  a  vast  influence  for  good  or  for  evil — for  the  former,  we 
doubt  not — as  the  Future  will  soon  demonstrate.  Some  of 
these  native  newspapers  are  conducted  with  much  talent,  we 
are  told,  and  are  read  with  great  avidity.  Among  those  which 
are  conducted  by  natives  under  Christian  influence,  the  Samachar 
Darpun  is  one  of  the  most  able.  They  will  furnish  an  admira- 
ble medium  for  discussing  the  nature,  evidences,  and  claims  of 
Christianity,  before  the  people  of  Hindostan.  Already,  indeed, 
tlie  work  has  commenced ;  nor  will  it  cease  till  the  Truth  has 
triumphed  over  all  opposition. 

There  ave  several  English  journals  published  in  India  and 
Ceylon,  and  one  or  two  monthly  magazines.  We  will  name 
only  the  Calcutta  Christian  Observer,  published  monthly,  under 
the  united  direction  of  all  the  Protestant  missionaries ;  the  Cal- 
cutta Eeview,  which  appears  quarterly,  edited  chiefly  by  Dr. 
Duff",  of  the  Scottish  Free  Church  Mission ;  and  the  Friend  of 
India,  a  weekly  publication  of  great  interest,  under  the  care  of 
Mr.  Marshman,  a  son  of  the  former  excellent  missionary  of  that 
name. 

The  English  and  American  Missionaries  in  China  published 
formerly  a  valuable  monthly  magazine,  called  the  Indo-Chinese 
Gleaner,  which  was  read  extensively  by  the  English  and  Amer- 
ican residents  and  sojourners  in  the  several  sea-ports,  in  which 


*i2  CHRISTIAN    IlKTKOSPECT 

Europeans  and  Americans  are  now  allowed  to  trade  with  the 
natives.     It  now  exists  under  the  title  of  the  Chinese  Repositori/. 

Africa. — There  are  English  newspapers  published  at  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  French  journals  published  in  Algiers, 
in  the  northern  extremity  of  that  continent.  Whilst  on  the 
western  coast  there  are  newspapers  published,  in  the  English 
language,  in  Liberia,  in  Sierra  Leone,  and  at  Cape  Palmas,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  colonies  planting  in  those  places.  All  this  is 
the  result  of  movements  commenced  since  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century. 

Islands  in  the  Pacific  and  Indian  Oceans. — We  know  not 
how  many  newspapers  in  the  Dutch  language  are  published  in 
Java  and  other  parts  of  Netherlands  India,  but  we  suppose  that 
there  are  not  many. 

There  are  several  newspapers  published  among  the  English 
colonies  in  New  Holland,  Van  Dieman's  Land,  and  New  Zea- 
land ;  and  the  number  is  increasing. 

Several  newspapers  are  also  published  at  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
edited  by  the  missionaries  and  others,  whose  influence  is  exten- 
sive among  the  many  foreigners  residing  in  those  islands,  as 
well  as  among  the  native  population.  And  this,  too,  is  one  of 
the  evidences,  as  it  is  one  of  the  fruits,  of  the  Progress  which  has 
characterized  the  last  fifty  years. 

In  concluding  this  survey  of  the  advance  of  the  Press  during 
the  First  Half  of  the  XlXth  century,  we  cannot  but  remark  that 
it  has  been  wonderful.  How  greatly  have  the  means  been  in- 
creased, within  the  short  period  of  fifty  years,  of  diffusing  knowl- 
edge on  all  subjects  that  concern  Humanity,  both  in  relation  to 
this  life  and  to  that  which  is  to  come !  There  are,  probably, 
four  or  five  times  as  many  of  these  cheap  vehicles  of  informa- 
tion, which  we  call  newspapers,  in  the  world  as  there  were  in 
the  year  1800.  This  is,  indeed,  a  great  progress.  The  grand- 
est obstacle  in  the  way  of  imparting  the  Gospel  to  mankind, 


AND    REGISTER.  V3 

and  of  proinoting  their  best  interests  even  in  this  world,  is  Igno- 
rance. And  the  more  that  facilities  for  dispelling  it  and  for 
diffusing  knowledge  among  the  human  race,  become  increased 
and  made  to  bear  upon  all  classes,  the  more  certainly  will  the 
Kingdom  of  our  Lord  be  promoted. 

We  shall  now  advance  to  the  consideration  of  the  progress 
of  Science,  in  many  of  its  branches,  during  the  last  fifty  years. 

4 


CHAPTER   V. 

HISTORICAL    SKETCH  OF  SCIENCE   IN  THE   FIRST  HALF 
OF   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 

The  Scientific  history  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury is  exceedingly  various  and  extended.  In  no  department 
has  science  been  altogether  stationary ;  each  previous  form  of 
knowledge  has  pushed  its  path  further  out  into  the  wide  un- 
known. Many  branches  of  Science  entirely  unknown  before, 
have  been  created  within  this  period.  Meteorology,  Electro- 
chemistry, Geology,  Physical  Geography — belong  exclusively 
to  it.  The  relations  between  all  the  various  departments  of 
Science  have  become  much  more  prominent  and  distinct.  The 
applications  of  Science,  to  practical  and  useful  ends,  are  innu- 
merable and  remarkable.  The  development  has  already  become 
so  great,  that  the  want  of  some  general  guide  has  everywhere 
been  felt ;  and  Cuvier  in  France,  Whewell  in  England,  and  the 
gentlemen  of  the  British  Association,  have  offered  histories  of 
recent  progress,  which  afford  us  one  principal  means  of  prepar- 
ing the  sketch  which  we  now  proceed  to  offer. 

SECTION  I. 

ASTRONOMY. 

The  progress  of  Astronomy  was  not  distinguished  by  any 
very  remarkable  discoveries  for  some  time  after  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present  century.  At  the  beginning  of  that  period 
several  important  instruments  were  coming  into  use — as  the 


CHRISTIAN    RETKOSPECT    AND    REGISTER.  75 

English  theodolite  and  the  French  repeating  circle — the  princi- 
pal part  of  the  Mecanique  Celeste  was  published  ;  and  the 
theory  of  perturbations  was  beginning  to  be  well  understood. 

The  Observatory  at  Greenwich  was  the  only  one  at  which 
regular  observations  were  then  systematically  made;  and  a 
mass  of  these  was  accumulating  which  surpassed  all  others 
known  in  accuracy  and  value.  A  great  number  of  observato- 
ries, however,  have  since  been  established ;  and  many  periodical 
publications  now  make  their  observations  accessible.  One  of 
the  latter  was  commenced  by  Zach,  in  1800,  which  contributed 
greatly  to  the  progress  of  Science — and  especially  in  respect  to 
the  small  planets. 

In  1832  there  were  thirty-five  well-furnished  observatories  in 
Europe :  of  which  six  were  in  the  British  Isles,  two  in  France, 
one  in  Switzerland,  seven  in  Italy,  one  in  Norway,  one  in  Den- 
mark, ten  in  Germany,  and  several  in  Poland  and  Russia. 
The  East  India  Company  has  estabhshed  two  in  India,  and  one 
in  St.  Helena ;  private  enterprise  has  erected  and  furnished  one 
in  New  South  Wales. 

Several  have  since  been  added  to  this  number,  in  Russia, 
Belgium,  Spain,  and  Greece. 

In  America  there  was,  in  1832,  but  one  observatory, — that 
of  Yale  College.  Since  then,  however,  most  of  our  hterary  in- 
stitutions have  sought  to  provide  them.  Among  these.  Har- 
vard College  maintains  an  honorable  distinction  ;  its  instru- 
ments being  upon  a  level  with  the  highest  refinements  of 
mechanical  skill  in  this  department.  Two  observatories  of  very 
high  grade  have  been  founded  by  the  government — those  at 
West  Point  and  at  Washington.  Several  of  our  cities,  Phila- 
delphia, Brooklyn,  and  particularly  Cincinnati,  have  established 
similar  institutions  of  great  promise.  The  whole  number  of 
American  Observatories  is  stated  by  Prof.  Loomis,  at  fifteen. 

The  progress  of  Astronomy  during  the  past  half-century  has 
been  stimulated  by  a  large  number  of  societies ;  and  is  chron- 


Y6  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

icled  in  a  great  many  periodicals  devoted  to  this  subject,  as  well 
as  in  many  papers,  both  European  and  American,  in  scientific 
journals  of  a  general  character. 

Astronomy  has  owed  much  of  the  interest  and  success  with 
which  its  ktest  discoveries  have  been  prosecuted,  to  the  im- 
provement which  has  been  gradually  effected  in  the  construction 
of  iustrutnents.  The  first  Mural  circle  was  erected  at  Green- 
wici)  in  1812 — and  its  intnKluction  marks  a  new  epoch  in  the 
science.  Motion  is  now  given  by  clock  work  to  the  largest  in- 
struments ;  by  which  the  same  star  may  be  kept  constantly  in 
the  field  of  view.  Achi'oinatic  lenses,  which  formerly  could  not 
be  made  of  any  considerable  dimensions,  have  since  been  con- 
structed by  Fraunhofer  of  nine  inches  diameter, — later  by  Cau- 
choix  of  eleven  or  twelve, — and  still  later  by  Merz  &  Mah- 
ler of  Munich,  of  fifteen.  These  instruments,  especially  the 
first-named,  may  not  be  more  powerful  than  the  great  telescopes 
of  the  Herschells ;  yet,  their  diffusion  has  greatly  promoted 
scientific  discovery. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  period  under  review,  the  only  good 
catalogue  of  stars,  according  to  Prof.  Airy,  was  that  of  Dr.  Mas- 
kelyne.  Since  that  period,  many  eminent  astronomers  have 
greatly  multiplied  the  number  of  the  stars,  whose  positions,  as 
fundamental  points  of  measurement  for  others,  have  been  de- 
termined. New  investigations  of  refraction,  made  by  the  most 
distinguished  men,  have  introduced  an  accuracy  unknown  be- 
fore, into  this  branch  of  the  Science.  Tables  have  been  com- 
Duted  and  published  by  numerous  authors  for  determining  the 
places  and  figures  of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  the  planets  and 
their  satelUtes. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  century,  the  only  bodies  recognized 
as  belonging  to  the  Solar  System  were  the  Sun,  seven  planets, 
with  their  satellites,  and  Halley's  Comet.  On  January  1st,  1801, 
Piazzi  discovered  the  planet  Ceres, — in  1802,  Olbers  detected  a 
second  of  these  bodies,  Pallas, — in   1804  Harding  detected  a 


AND    REGISTER.  77 

third,  Juno, — and  in  1807,  Olbers  again  distinguished  himself 
by  discovering  Vesta.  These  discoveries  attracted  great  atten- 
tion, and  theii*  orbits  and  perturbations  were  speedily  computed. 
The  interest  awakened  by  them  arose  in  part  from  the  fact  that 
the  existence  of  a  planet  at  that  distance  from  the  Sun,  had 
long  been  suspected  ;  and  it  was  greatly  increased  by  a  sugges- 
tion early  offered  by  Olbers,  that  they  might  be  fragments  of 
one  original  body.  It  was  by  investigations  growing  out  of 
this  hypothesis  that  the  last  of  the  four  was  discovered. 

Many  observations  were  made  in  order  to  detect  any  other 
bodies  which  might  exist  in  the  vicinity  of  these,  but  with  no 
success;  and  after  1816,  the  search  was  generally  abandoned. 
In  1845,  however,  another  was  discovered, — and  the  zeal  of 
discovery  revived.  Since  that  time  six  new  planets  have  been 
detected  in  this  portion  of  the  heavens.  They  are  all  much  in- 
ferior in  size  to  the  four  previously  ascertained,  and  the  discov- 
ery is  doubtless  due  to  the  multiplication  of  instruments  and  of 
observers.  The  present  number  of  the  certainly  ascertained 
Asteroids  is  thirteen ;  two  more,  however,  are  very  recently  an- 
nounced. 

An  eighth  satelHte  of  Saturn  was  discovered,  in  1848,  by  Mr. 
Bond,  of  the  Harvard  Observatory ;  and  the  satellites  of  Uranus, 
which  had  not  been  seen  since  Sir  William  Herschell's  discovery 
of  them,  are  now  again  found  and  computed.  A  third  ring  of 
Saturn  has  also  been  detected. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  chaptere  of  astronomical  discovery 
relates  to  the  theory  of  comets.  Before  the  present  century, 
little  was  known  of  their  true  character;  and  only  a  single 
comet,  Halley's,  was  fully  ascertained  to  belong  permanently  to 
the  solar  system.  With  the  introduction  of  improved  methods 
for  the  determination  of  cometary  orbits,  a  new  impulse  was 
given  to  the  observation  of  these  bodies;  and  in  1819,  Encke 
ascertained  that  a  comet  recently  observed  could  revolve  only 
in  an  ellipse  of  short  period.     His  first  computations  gave  1310 


*JS  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

days  as  the  period  of  a  revolution.  The  interest  awakened  by 
this  announcement  was  intense;  and  very  great  attention  was 
at  once  given  to  the  subject.  It  was  soon  found  that  the  orbit 
of  the  new  comet  agreed  with  one  which  had  been  observed 
before,  and  the  identity  of  the  two  was  fully  established. 

A  new  question,  however,  immediately  arose.  The  orbit  now 
observed  was  perceptibly  less  than  on  the  previous  occasions  of 
its  appearance,  and  the  difference  could  not  be  accounted  for, 
except  by  supposing  the  existence,  throughout  the  planetary 
spaces,  of  a  resisting  medium.  The  return  of  the  body  was 
most  anxiously  watched,  in  the  hope  that  it  would  settle  this 
interesting  point;  and  at  its  return,  in  1829,  the  general  opin- 
ion seemed  to  be  that  there  could  be  no  mistake  about  the  re- 
ality, or  the  magnitude,  of  the  resistance  which  it  had  experi- 
enced. This  is,  however,  the  only  body  that  has  fully  indicated 
such  a  resisting  medium  to  us ;  and  its  indications  do  not  ex- 
tend beyond  the  orbit  of  Mercury. 

A  great  number  of  comets  has  since  been  observed  and  com- 
puted ;  of  which  several  have  been  discovered  within  the  last 
ten  years — two  of  them  in  America. 

The  latter  part  of  the  past  half-century  has,  however,  wit- 
nessed the  attainment  of  some  results  scarcely  inferior  in  bril- 
liancy and  greatness  to  any  others  that  astronomical  history 
records.  Among  these  the  discovery  of  another  planet  is,  per- 
haps, the  most  remarkable  achievement.  The  perturbations  of 
the  most  remote  of  the  known  planets  of  our  system,  Uranus, 
had  long  attracted  the  attention  of  observers,  and  in  1810  they 
•were  thoroughly  computed  by  Bessel,  who  declared  that  with- 
out the  supposition  of  an  additional  planet,  yet  more  distant, 
they  were  inexplicable.  The  problem  was  to  find  this  disturb- 
ing body ;  a  problem  which  the  highest  authority.  Professor 
Airy,  pronounced  utterly  hopeless  till  after  several  successive 
revolutions  of  Uranus.  It  was,  however,  attempted,  the  posi- 
tion of  the  unknown  planet  was  fixed  upon,  and  its  mass  and 


AND    REGISTER.  -  7D 

apparent  size  determined,  upon  purely  theoretical  grounds;  and 
the  first  examination  of  its  calculated  place  disclosed  the  reality 
of  its  existence.  This  discovery  has  been  held  to  indicate  the 
correctness  of  our  astronomical  theories,  the  minute  certainty 
of  our  knowledge  of  the  planetary  motions,  and  the  perfection 
of  our  instruments  of  observation,  and  has  won  for  its  author, 
Le  Verrier,  immortal  renown. 

The  knowledge  of  the  fixed  stars,  too,  has  greatly  increased. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  century,  the  only  accurate  knowledge 
of  double  stars  was  contained  in  the  papers  of  the  elder  Her- 
schel,  who  discovered,  in  1803,  the  fact  of  their  revolution, 
and  subsequently  enlarged  greatly  his  catalogue  of  them. 
Many  more  were  observed  by  Struve  and  Bessel ;  but  the  most 
accurate  measurements  of  such  bodies  are  due  to  Sir  John  Her- 
schel's  labors  in  1830.  The  belief  that  some  law  of  attraction 
connected  these  remarkable  bodies,  led  to  many  efforts  to  com- 
pute their  periods  ;  of  which  that  of  the  last-named  gentleman 
was  by  far  the  most  remarkable  and  useful.  The  computations 
rendered  possible  by  this  method,  have  fairly  resulted  in  ex- 
tending the  Newtonian  law  of  gravitation  across  the  immeasura- 
ble distance,  as  it  then  seemed,  which  separates  the  planetary 
from  the  sidereal  systems. 

The  step,  however,  which  has  given  to  Astronomy  its  greatest 
extension,  is  the  determination  of  the  parallax  of  the  fixed  stars. 
By  this  term  is  meant  the  apparent  change  of  position,  which  a 
distant  body  undergoes,  from  a  change  in  the  position  of  the 
observer.  Hitherto  no  such  change  of  the  point  of  observation 
produced  the  smallest  perceptible  effect  upon  any  one  of  the 
fixed  stars.  Even  the  vast  change  of  position  which  the  differ- 
ent places  of  the  earth  in  its  orbit,  at  different  seasons,  involves, 
has  seemed  to  produce  no  corresponding  alteration  in  the  rela- 
tive positions  of  the  stars.  At  length,  however,  such  a  change 
has  been  detected.  A  series  of  observations  by  Bessel,  in  1837- 
40,  determined  the  position  of  one  of  the  fixed  stars  to  be  deci- 


80  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

dedly  diflferent  in  January  from  that  which  it  occupied  in  June. 
His  observations  determined  the  distance  of  the  star  to  be 
592,000  times  the  radius  of  the  earth's  orbit. 

This  successful  attempt  to  bring  the  Solar  System  into  rela- 
tion with  the  stars,  awakened  the  highest  interest  among  astron- 
omers. Henderson,  of  Edinburgh,  soon  ascertained  a  similar 
parallax  in  another  star ;  and  Dr.  Peters,  of  Pultowa,  has  ex- 
tended the  list,  and  verified  Bessel's  results.  This  great  dis- 
covery may  now  be  considered  as  established,  and  the  vast  field 
to  which  it  belongs  is  open  to  the  improved  observation  of  the 
age. 

Another  achievement  is  the  verification  of  Sir  William  Her- 
schel's  opinion,  in  respect  to  the  motion  of  the  Solar  System  in 
space.  A  comparison  of  the  motions  of  those  stars,  which  were 
best  ascertained,  suo'orested  to  him  the  idea  that  the  Sun  was 
moving  toward  a  point  in  the  constellation  Hercules.  A  more 
careful  examination  of  a  greater  number  of  stars,  and  by  sev- 
eral most  competent  observers,  seems  to  estabhsh  this  result, 
and  to  indicate,  that  the  Solar  System  moves  through  space 
with  a  velocity  about  one  fourth  of  that  of  the  earth  in  its  orbit. 
Whether  this  motion  is  rectilinear  or  orbital,  whether  the  stars 
participate  in  it,  and  what  is  the  grand  centre  of  it,  can  hardly 
yet  be  decided.  Prof.  Madler,  of  Dorpat,  has  discussed  these 
problems,  and  reached  definite  conclusions.  He  marks  the  star 
known  as  Alcyone  in  the  centre  of  the  Pleiades,  as  the  true  and 
grand  central  sun  of  the  whole  system.  He  has  even  reached 
some  indication  of  the  time  in  which  our  Sun  revolves  in  this 
vast  orbit — 18  millions  of  years  ;  but  his  conclusions  are  yet  in- 
volved in  too  much  doubt  to  permit  us  to  rely  upon  them. 

In  the  resolution  of  nebulce,  astronomy  has  advanced  to  a 
field  of  observation  yet  more  remote.  The  elder  Herschel  ob- 
served, with  his  vast  reflecting  telescopes,  many  of  these  re- 
markable bodies ;  500  were  enumerated  in  a  single  paper,  and 
the  number  was  greatly  increased  in  1811  and  in  1817.     The 


AND    REGISTER.  81 

chief  improvement  in  this  particular  has  been  achieved  by  the 
Earl  of  Rosse,  whose  gigantic  telescope  of  twice  the  size  of  Her- 
schel's,  has  revealed  the  character  of  many  of  these  singular  bo- 
dies, and  shown  them  to  be  distant  groups  of  distinct  stars.  A 
great  number  of  nebulae  have  been  thus  resolved :  though  oth- 
ers yet  retain  their  indistinct  and  hazy  outline  under  all  appli- 
ances, and  remain  problems  for  future  solution. 

The  elaborate,  various,  and  complicated  processes  of  compu- 
tation and  observation  through  which  such  discoveries  have 
been  achieved,  it  is  impossible  to  indicate.  Many  hundreds  of 
stars — some  thousands  even,  have  been  determined  with  pre- 
cision, as  points  of  reference  for  smaller  ones ;  and  of  these 
50,000  are  recorded  in  the  observations  of  Delalande  alone. 
The  record  of  a  single  year's  observation  at  the  National  Ob- 
servatory at  Washington,  will  give  12,000  to  15,000  stars, 
most  of  them  unknown  to  any  existing  catalogue ;  and  the  plan 
contemplates  the  exact  record  of  every  star,  down  to  those  of 
the  tenth  magnitude.  Concerted  observations  of  astronomers 
at  different  positions,  bring  the  whole  heavens  under  constant 
inspection  ;  and  the  advanced  state  of  Astronomical  Science, 
and  the  improved  and  powerful  character  of  the  instruments 
employed,  authorize  the  hope  of  a  rapid  and  wide  extension  of 
knowledge  in  this,  the  most  advanced  department,  of  Physical 
Science. 


SECTION  11. 

OPTICS. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  century  the  Newtonian  theory  of 
light — the  emission  theory,  as  it  is  called — was  in  the  ascendant. 
It  owed  its  acceptance  to  the  personal  influence  of  its  great 
author ;  and  did  not  rest  on  any  accurate  basis  of  experiment. 
During  the  period  under  review  several  facts  have  been  brought 
4* 


82  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

to  light  which  enable  us  to  test  this,  in  connection  with  the  i> 
val  theory  of  undulaiio?is. 

The  theory  of  undidations  was  adopted  by  Dr.  Young,  in 
1801-3,  as  explaining  the  phenomena  of  diffraction ;  and  in 
1815,  Fresnel  in  France  coincided  with  this  view.  In  1809, 
Young  explained  double  refraction  upon  the  same  hypothesis. 

The  polarization  of  light  was  subjected  to  an  elaborate 
mathematical  examination  by  Fresnel,  in  1820;  and  a  subse- 
quent theoretical  examination  of  the  laws  of  internal  reflection, 
disclosed  the  very  unexpected  consequence  of  a  circular  polari- 
zation. This  extraordinary  result  was  immediately  after  verified 
by  experiment,  and  produoed  a  deep  impression  of  the  truth  of 
that  theory. 

The  phenomena  of  dipolarization  were  discovered  by  Arago, 
in  1811,  and  reduced  subsequently  by  Fresnel,  from  the  theory 
which  has  served  to  explain  so  many  of  these  otherwise  inex- 
plicable facts. 

The  coincidence  of  that  theory  with  so  many  of  the  great  op- 
tical laws,  has  produced  a  strong  tendency  among  philosophers 
of  the  present  day,  to  its  general  adoption.  It  is,  however,  still 
somewhat  dubious ;  and  the  very  recondite  character  of  the 
focts  themselves  do  not  seem  to  promise  any  very  speedy  settle- 
ment of  the  question.  The  comprehensive  character  of  this 
theory,  the  facility  with  which  it  has  explained,  and  the  correct- 
ness with  which  it  has  predicted,  the  curious  phenomena  of  this 
science,  have  given  it  a  higher  rank  among  physical  theories 
than  any  which  has  been  proposed  since  New^ton's  theory  of 
gravitation,  with  which  it  is  classed  by  philosophers  of  high 
repute.  Mr.  Whewell  does  not  consider  it  either  in  generality 
or  in  certainty,  of  an  order  inferior  to  that  of  this  celebrated  hy- 
pothesis. 


AND   REGISTER.  83 


SECTION  III. 

METEOR"DLOGY. 

This  science  which  has  for  its  objects  the  phenomena  of  the 
atmosphere,  has  assumed  its  present  form  entirely  within  the 
present  century.  At  the  beginning  of  that  period  it  was  char- 
acterized by  two  prominent  circumstances, — one  the  possession 
of  the  most  important  instruments  of  observation,  the  barome- 
ter, thermometer,  hygrometer,  &c. ;  and  the  other,  the  recent 
determination  of  the  uniform  composition  of  the  atmosphere  at 
all  accessible  heights,  and  in  all  countries. 

Numberless  observations  have  been  made  with  each  of 
these  instruments,  to  determine  the  variations  of  temperature, 
humidity,  &c.,  of  particular  places,  and  to  ascertain  the  laws 
of  the  atmospheric  changes  throughout  the  earth.  In  some 
places  these  observations  have  been  made  hourly  for  long 
periods  of  time.  Observations  of  this  kind  for  a  period  of  two 
years  in  Scotland,  were  discussed  by  Dr.  Brewster,  in  1827. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  ascertain  the  laws  of  ter- 
restrial heat.  The  subject  has  been  investigated  mathematically 
by  the  French  philosophers,  with  their  accustomed  zeal.  Sev- 
eral important  problems  have  been  earnestly  discussed,  such  as 
the  specific  heats  of  different  substances — the  proper  heat  of 
the  earth,  &c. 

Among  the  most  interesting  of  these  results,  may  be  men- 
tioned the  conclusions,  that  equal  volumes  of  the  different  gases 
have  the  same  specific  heat — that  no  appreciable  change  of  tem- 
perature in  the  Italian  climate,  has  taken  place  for  two  hundred 
years — that  the  earth  has  a  proper  heat  of  its  own, — that  its 
temperature,  at  a  given  depth  below  the  surface,  is  invariable  at 
all  seasons,  and  increases  with  each  succeeding  increase  of 
depth. 


84  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

To  Dr.  Dalton  the  world  is  indebted  for  some  experiments 
•which  have  ascertained  the  dew-point,  or  the  temperature  at 
which  dew  begins  to  be  deposited.  He  has  also  determined 
the  composition  of  the  air  to  be  the  result  of  a  mechanical  mix- 
ture, and  not  of  a  chemical  combination,  of  its  gaseous  elements. 

The  law  which  governs  the  amounts  of  rain  falling  in  difier- 
ent  districts  of  the  earth,  has  been  in  some  degree  ascertained. 
Arago,  in  1824-5,  traced  its  regular  decrease  from  the  Equator 
to  the  poles.  On  the  Malabar  coast  123  inches  is  the  annual 
amount,  which  is  reduced  in  lat.  60°  to  IV  inches.  Annual 
amounts  have  been  ascertained  in  other  places  far  surpassing 
this  :  at  Paramaribo,  229  inches, — in  the  AVestern  Ghauts,  south 
of  Bombay,  300  inches. 

The  phenomena  of  dew  were  ascertained  by  a  beautiful  series 
of  experiments,  in  1814,  by  Dr.  Wells,  in  England.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  connecting  them  with  temperature  as  their  cause, 
modified  by  the  conducting  power  of  the  body  on  which  mois- 
ture is  deposited.  The  theory  thus  established  speedily  afforded 
a  solution  of  all  the  phenomena. 

An  ingenious  classification  of  clouds  into  cirru%  cumulus, 
and  stratus,  (corresponding  to  feather-cloud, — heap-cloud, — and 
layer  cloud,  in  German,)  with  their  diflTerent  combinations,  was 
proposed  in  1803,  by  Mr.  Howard.  It  has  been  generally  ac- 
cepted, and  gives  great  precision  to  descriptions  of  atmo-phenc 
phenomena. 

At  the  beginning  of  our  period  there  was  no  general  theory 
of  Winds  and  Storms  ;  and  the  want  of  such  a  theory  was 
much  felt.  Since  then,  however,  the  general  laws  of  the  wind 
have,  in  some  most  important  respects,  been  ascertained.  The 
constant  winds  of  the  tropics  have  been  shown  to  be  owing  to 
regular  changes  of  temperature ; — the  land  and  sea  breezes  to 
the  diurnal  variations, — the  monsoons,  to  the  changes  of  the 
seasons, — and  the  trade-winds,  to  the  difference  of  climate  be- 
tween the  equatorial  and  polar  regions. 


AND    REGISTER.  86 

A  very  interesting  investigation  has  recently  been  conducted 
by  several  eminent  men,  into  the  nature  of  the  great  American 
Storms,  which  has  already  thrown  much  light  upon  this  sub- 
ject. Until  a  very  late  period  they  were  supposed  to  be  merely 
gales  of  wind,  moving  at  a  high  velocity,  and  in  a  straight  line. 
Mr.  Redfield,  of  New  York,  suggested  that  they  were  rotary, 
and  adduced  many  observations  on  the  great  Atlantic  Storms, 
which  seemed  strongly  to  sustain  this  view.  It  was  adopted  by 
Col.  Reid,  of  the  British  army,  and  supported  by  his  very  nu- 
merous observations  upon  storms  in  the  East  and  West  Indies. 
A  different  theory  has  been  advocated  by  Prof  Espy,  who  main- 
tains, on  similar  grounds  of  fact,  and  upon  established  princi- 
ples of  science,  that  the  direction  of  the  wind  in  such  storms, 
instead  of  being  rotary,  is  convergent  towards  a  center.  The 
opinions  of  scientific  men  are  yet  divided  on  the  subject;  and 
the  discussion  has  developed  some  very  interesting  laws  in  re- 
spect to  the  causes,  motions,  and  extent  of  such  phenomena. 

Many  observations  have  enabled  us  to  a^jcertain  the  mean  di- 
rection of  the  wind  at  particular  points.  Farther  investigations 
in  this  direction  have  been  undertaken  by  Lieut.  Maury  of  the 
Washington  Observatory,  who  has  ascertained,  from  a  very  ex- 
tended comparison  of  the  records  of  numerous  ships,  that  cer- 
tain winds  prevail  within  given  limits  much  more  regularly  than 
had  been  supposed.  The  investigation  promises  great  advan- 
tages to  mariners,  as  they  may  select  the  paths  in  which  a  favor- 
able wind  is  most  generally  found  ;  and  some  important  results 
of  this  kind  have,  it  is  believed,  been  already  attained. 

Meteorological  observations  are  now  made  with  great  regular- 
ity and  constancy,  and  over  very  wide  areas.  Two  of  our  prin- 
cipal States,  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  have  recently  estab- 
lished stations  for  this  purpose  throughout  their  whole  extent. 
The  character  of  the  questions  now  open,  and  the  number  and 
zeal  of  observers,  give  promise  of  results  of  high  scientific  in- 
terest, and  of  great  practical  value. 


8Q  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 


SECTION  IV. 


GEOGRAPHY. 


The  last  century  was  characterized  by  a  very  active  spirit  of 
geographical  discovery,  extending  over  nearly  the  whole  of  that 
period.  While  the  Russian  navigators  (among  whom  Behring 
stands  conspicuous)  achieved  the  exploration  of  the  north-eastern 
parts  of  Asia,  and  the  seas  between  the  Asiatic  and  the  Ameri- 
can coasts,  the  other  European  nations  traversed,  with  similar 
aims,  the  vast  Pacific.  The  voyages  of  De  Bougainville  and  La 
Perouse,  under  the  auspices  of  the  French  government,  and 
especially  Cook's  well-known  voyages,  together  with  numerous 
other  and  less  conspicuous  adventures  of  the  same  kind,  had 
made  known  the  general  distribution  of  the  great  lands  and 
oceans  of  the  globe.  The  discovery  of  New  Holland,  in  1770, 
by  Cook,  is  the  most  remarkable  achievement  of  this  kind. 
The  unknown  portions  of  the  Russian  Empire  had  been  illustra- 
ted, in  some  degree,  by  the  efforts  of  Pallas  and  others,  in  the 
employ  of  that  government ;  while  many  others  had  contrib- 
uted to  extend  the  knowledge  of  other  portions  of  the  earth. 
Among  these  Bruce  in  Abyssinia,  Niebuhr  in  Arabia  and  Egypt, 
Park  in  Central  Africa,  and  Mackenzie  in  North  America,  were 
particularly  distinguished.  Through  the  labors  of  such  adven- 
turers, the  general  surface  of  the  earth  was,  at  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  delineated  with  considerable  exactness,  and  in  some 
detail. 

The  subsequent  fifty  years  have  extended  such  explorations 
in  almost  every  direction,  and  with  many  most  important  re- 
sults. A  very  great  portion  of  the  Arctic  coast  of  North  Amer- 
ica has  been  successfully  explored  and  dehneated  by  successive 
expeditions  of  the  British  government  for  the  discovery  of  a 
North  AVest  Passage  to  the  Pacific.     The  names  of  Ross,  Parry 


AND    REGISTER.  8Y 

and  Franklin  will  be  long  memorable  in  the  annals  of  discovery 
in  this  field,  each  of  them  having  commanded  several  distinct 
expeditions  of  this  kind.  At  the  present  time,  the  first-named 
of  these  gentlemen  yet  battles  with  the  tempest  and  the  ice  of 
those  rigorous  regions  in  an  effort  to  discover  and  relieve  the 
last-named,  now  absent  and  unheard  of  for  a  period  of  five 
years  and  eight  months.  In  this  humane  undertaking  no  less 
than  four  distinct  expeditions  are  now  engaged  in  company  with 
this  veteran  commander.  Of  these  one  is  American,  and  one 
French,  and  two  have  been  sent  out  by  the  devoted  exertions 
which  have  immortalized  the  name  of  Lady  Franklin. 

Upon  the  continent  of  America,  the  Columbia  River  discov- 
ered a  year  or  two  earlier,  was,  with  the  Missouri,  explored  by 
Lewis  and  Clark  in  1804-5. 

The  sources  of  the  Mississippi  were  examined  in  1805  by 
Pike,  and  in  1819-20,  through  the  St.  Peters  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  by  Long. 

The  investigations  of  Humboldt,  in  1800-4,  resulted  in  a 
much  more  accurate  knowledge  of  some  portions  of  South 
America  and  Mexico ;  while  the  southern  extremity  of  the  con- 
tinent and  its  south-western  shore  have  been  carefully  surveyed 
by  a  British  expedition  of  discovery  conducted  in  the  Beagle,— 
a  survey  which  has  disclosed  many  important  facts  in  various 
departments  of  science. 

The  western  coast  of  North  America  was  carefully  examined 
through  nearly  its  whole  extent  by  the  United  States  Explor- 
ing Expedition  under  Capt.  Wilkes. 

The  interior  geography  of  the  continent  has  been  recently 
elucidated  by  the  explorations  of  Lieutenant  Fremont.  His 
first  expedition  (in  1842)  terminated  at  Fremont's  Peak,  near 
the  South  Pass, — two  points  which  mark  the  highest  elevation 
and  the  lowest  depression  of  the  great  chain  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains. His  second  (1843-4)  found  its  theatre  west  of  that  range  in 
Oregon  and  Northern  Cahfornia,  and  disclosed  the  existence  and 


88  CHRTSTIAN    RETROSPECT 

cTiaracter  of  the  great  Salt  Lake.  His  third  resulted  in  the 
discovery  of  that  remarkable  peculiarity  of  the  interior  of  Nor- 
thern California — the  great  basin — an  area  of  500  miles  in 
diameter,  and  from  4000  to  5000  feet  in  height,  with  its  own 
system  of  lakes  and  rivers.  It  disclosed,  too,  the  singular  char- 
acteristics of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  with  its  fertile  valleys  on  the 
Pacific  slope,  and  its  arid  and  sterile  regions  on  the  east.  These 
explorations  fill  up  a  vast  chasm  in  the  geography  of  the  con- 
tinent, and  connected  with  Capt.  Wilkes's  survey  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Columbia,  present  an  accurate  view  of  the  continent  from 
the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  great  Australian  continent  is  yet  but  very  imperfectly 
known.  The  whole  central  portion  of  it  is  still  enveloped  in 
mystery.  At  the  visit  of  the  United  States  Exploring  Expedi- 
tion, it  had  been  examined  through  only  one  fourth  part  of  its 
extent  from  the  coast.  A  recent  Gernjan  traveller,  from  whose 
exploration  much  information  was  expected,  has  now  been  ab- 
sent for  a  period  of  three  years ;  and,  at  the  latest  accounts,  an 
expedition  was  just  preparing  to  set  out  from  Singapore  in 
search  of  him. 

In  Africa,  the  explorations  of  Park  had  brought  to  light  the 
existence  of  a  great  river,  whose  probable  course  formed,  for 
twenty  years,  a  problem  of  very  difficult  solution,  in  prosecution 
of  which  that  dauntless  adventurer  soon  after  lost  his  life.  The 
successful  determination  of  this  question  was  finally  achieved  by 
Lander,  in  1830. 

In  1822,  Denham  and  Clapperton  extensively  explored  Nor- 
thern Africa.  To  the  latter  is  due  the  honor  of  being  the  first 
European  who  ever  traversed  that  continent  from  the  Bight  of 
Benin  to  the  Mediterranean.  At  a  later  day  the  Niger  was  explored, 
and  its  course  determined,  for  a  distance  of  two  thousand  miles 
from  the  point  where  Park  first  saw  it,  in  1805,  to  its  mouth. 

The  travels  of  Major  Laing,  in  182C,  of  Caille,  in  1828,  and 
of  numerous  others,  have  given  us  some  definite  knowledge  of 


AND    REGISTER.  89 

the  geography,  productions,  and  populations  of  this  region  so 
long  unknown.  Much,  however,  yet  remains  to  be  ascertained, 
and  scientific  observers  are  busy  in  exploration.  A  German  ex- 
pedition, under  the  direction  of  the  Prussian  government,  is 
conducted  by  Bath  and  Overweg ;  and  is  expected  to  increase 
materially  our  knowledge,  both  geographical  and  scientific,  of 
this  interesting  country. 

Oriental  lands  have  been  the  scene  of  many  researches  and 
discoveries,  within  the  period  of  which  we  write. 

Within  the  five  years  subsequent  to  1 81 2,  Burckhardt  traversed 
Syria,  Arabia,  Egypt,  and  Nubia ;  and  through  his  extraordi- 
nary diligence  and  attainments,  enriched  and  enlarged  our 
knowledge  with  a  vast  amount  of  important  information. 

In  1838-39,  Dr.  Robinson  made  his  very  elaborate  researches 
upon  the  regions  of  Sinai  and  Palestine.  His  labors  have 
given  a  new  impulse  to  such  studies,  and  determined  some  very 
interesting  questions  of  Biblical  history.  Our  present  ample 
knowledge  of  the  geography  of  Palestine  proper,  is  due  entirely 
to  his  full  and  accurate  observations.  The  subsequent  exami- 
nation, by  Lieut.  Lynch,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  of  the  Jor- 
dan and  the  Dead  Sea,  has  given  to  the  world  its  first  reliable 
and  precise  knowledge  of  these  localities  ;  and  has  furnished  an 
important  contribution  to  the  elucidation  of  the  inspired  narra- 
tive. His  observations  ascertained  the  region  of  the  Dead  Sea 
to  be  the  lowest  portion  of  the  earth's  surface. 

The  vast  field  of  Asiatic  Russia  was  explored  by  Humboldt^ 
throughout  its  central  part,  in  1837  to  1842,  in  a  tour  which 
extended  along  the  great  Altai  r^nge,  to  the  confines  of  China. 
He  has  since  given  to  the  world  the  scientific  results  of  his  tour. 
Still  more  recently,  Ermand,  a  distinguished  naturalist,  has  ex- 
amined the  northern  portion  of  Asia,  and  his  published  journal 
is  full  of  valuable  information  upon  the  population,  productions, 
trade,  and  natural  history  of  those  regions. 

Different  Scientific  expeditions  fitted  out  by  the  principal  Eu- 


O'O  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

ropean  governraents,  as  well  as  by  our  own,  have  greatly  con* 
tributed  to  extend  geographical  science.  A  vast  number  of  the 
most  important  positions,  on  distant  and  scarcely  accessible 
shores,  have  been  thus  examined.  Numerous  islands  and 
groups  in  the  vast  Pacific, —  the  coasts  of  Central  and  South 
America, — prominent  channels  in  the  China  and  Indian  Seas, — 
the  Arctic  and  Antarctic  extremities  of  the  globe, — have  all  been 
more  or  less  carefully  delineated.  Three  such  expeditions, 
French,  English,  and  American,  made  nearly  simultaneous  dis- 
coveries, of  the  great  Antarctic  continent,  in  1840. 

Missionary  enterj)rise  has  accomplished  many  results  of  the 
same  kind.  English  and  French  Protestant  Missionaries  have 
enlarged  our  knowledge  of  the  interior  of  Southern  Africa. 
American  Missionaries  have,  in  some  degree,  explored  its  equa- 
torial region  from  the  west ;  and  Gobat  has  materially  elucida- 
ted Abyssinia.  Some  very  important  observations  in  Turkey 
and  Persia,  and  in  the  Archipelagos  of  Malaysia  and  Polynesia 
are  due  to  the  same  source :  while  very  numerous  contributions 
of  a  less  striking  kind  have  aided  to  swell  the  sum  of  such 
knowledge  in  reference  to  the  many  remote  and  unknown  local- 
ities to  which  these  heralds  of  the  cross  have  penetrated. 


SECTION  V. 

PHYSICAL    GEOGRAPRy. 

The  vast  number  and  variety  of  facts  ascertained  by  so  ex- 
tended and  minute  a  survey  of  the  earth's  surface,  could  not 
h\\  to  suggest  many  striking  views  of  a  general  kind.  Heat 
and  moisture  were  found  to  be  distributed  very  variously  ;  and 
the  law  which  governs  the  distribution  assumed  a  deep  interest. 
Different  altitudes  and  exposures  of  the  earth's  surfiice  stood 
connected  with  results  of  the  highest  consequence  to  the  organ- 
ized tribes.     Many  pecuharities,  too,  of  distribution,  and  varieties 


AND    REGISTER.  91 

of  color  and  form  in  the  organic  world,  demanded  for  their  ex- 
planation a  reference  to  some  cause.  The  investigation  of  facts 
and  questions,  as  are  here  involved,  gave  rise  to  Physical  Geog- 
raphy as  a  science. 

In  this  philosophical  geography  the  great  ocean  beds  have 
been  classified — the  marine  currents  determined — the  ocean 
depths  sounded,  and  the  heights  and  length  of  the  mountain- 
chains  measured  or  computed.  The  high  table-lands — the  vast 
lowlands — the  slopes  and  valleys  which  everywhere  determine 
the  distribution  of  animals  and  plants, — all  have  received  a  care- 
ful survey.  The  warm  and  fertile  regions  which  beget  popula- 
tion, and  the  frigid  and  arid  districts  which  repel  it — the  moun- 
tain ridges  and  iron-bound  coasts  which  forbid  communicatiea 
— the  level  plains  and  tranquil  seas  which  facilitate  it — all  these 
have  been  traced  in  their  influence  upon  the  history  of  the  an- 
imal tribes,  and  of  the  human  race. 

Some  of  the  most  valuable  of  the  observations  which  have 
promoted  its  progress,  are  due  to  the  labors  of  Alexander  Hum- 
boldt. His  journey  through  a  great  part  of  tropical  and  sub- 
tropical America,  was  undertaken  upon  a  scale  on  which  no 
private  scientific  expedition  had  ever  before  been  planned.  The 
enlarged  views  and  high  attainments  of  himself  and  his  col- 
league, Bonpland,  gave  a  value  to  his  survey  of  nature  in  those 
lands,  which  no  similar  work  had  possessed,  and  which  few  have 
since  attained.  It  is  to  his  efforts  that  we  principally  owe  the 
determination  of  the  magnetic  equator,  and  of  many  of  the 
Isothermal  lines  which  have  since  become  well  established,  and 
are  of  the  highest  scientific  value. 

The  science  has  been  carried  onward  to  a  far  higher  point  by 
Eitter  and  Steffens,  in  tracing  the  relations  of  the  organic  and 
moral  history  of  the  earth  to  its  physical  conformation.  The 
great  geographical  work  of  the  former  surpasses  every  other  in 
comprehensiveness  of  detail,  and  in  originality  of  observation. 
Ten  large  octavo  volumes  had  been  pubhshed  in  1846,  of  his 


92  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

geography,  in  its  relations  with  nature  and  history ;  and  yet 
only  Asia  and  Africa  had  been  completed.  Uis  maps  are 
standard  works  over  the  world  for  their  accuracy. 

To  Berghaus  is  due  the  praise  of  having  furnished  the  finest 
physical  Atlas  of  the  Earth  which  has  yet  appeared.  It  has 
served  as  the  basis  of  a  very  elaborate  work  of  the  same  kind, 
which  has  been  published  by  Professor  Johnson,  of  England. 
His  maps,  too,  of  Asia  and  Africa  possess  the  highest  value. 

To  the  moral  relations  which  arise  out  of  the  earth's  config- 
uration much  attention  is  now  directed.  Humboldt  has  him- 
self contributed  some  important  thoughts  to  the  subject  in  a 
recent  publication,  the  "  Cosmos ;"  and  his  pupil,  Prof.  Guyot, 
has  developed  some  striking  and  important  aspects  of  the  divine 
Providence  over  human  history  in  this  connection.  This  most 
interesting  field  has  but  recently  opened,  and  each  extension  of 
the  natural  history  of  the  different  regions  of  the  earth  now 
promises  to  contribute  something  to  our  understmd^ug  of  the 
designs  of  Providence. 


SECTION  VI. 

GENERAL    CHEMISTRY ELECTRICITY. 

It  is  now  about  a  century  since  observation  had  so  far  de- 
tected the  prominent  phenomena  of  Electricity,  as  to  chow  its 
claims  to  scientific  investigation,  and  the  interest  which  attended 
the  study.  Electrical  attraction  had  been  long  known ;  but  it 
was  not  till  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  that  electrical  re- 
pulsion was  observed  and  investigated  by  Dufay,  in  France.  At 
about  the  same  period  the  distinction  between  conductors  aPv\ 
non-conductors  was  established  by  Grey,  in  England.  If  w ' 
add  to  these  the  discovery  of  the  different  kinds  of  electricity- 
vitreous  and  resinous — and  the  curious  fact  of  the  electric  shod 
as  given  by  the  Leyden  jar,  we  shall  have  before  us  the  science 


AND    REGISTER.  93 

of  electricity  as  it  was  one  century  since.  The  chief  peculiarity 
of  this  last  fact  was,  that  electricity  was  shown  to  be  capable  of 
transmission  through  a  considerable  number  of  persons,  and  to 
a  very  great  distance,  without  any  appreciable  interval  of  time. 

Philosophers  began  at  once  to  speculate  and  to  experiment  with 
much  interest  upon  these  circumstances,  and  among  these  the 
name  of  Franklin  acquired  great  distinction  by  his  clear  and 
satisfactory  explanations  of  these  electrical  phenomena.  Elec- 
tricity by  induction,  and  the  identity  of  electricity  with  light- 
ning, were  soon  after  ascertained. 

Subsequent  investigation  sought  to  develop  a  theory  of  elec- 
tricity to  ascertain  the  causes  and  the  laws  of  these  phenomena. 
Epinus  of  Petersburg,  and  Coulomb  in  France,  two  of  the  most 
eminent  philosophers  of  the  last  century,  labored  to  determine, 
by  the  most  careful  mathematical  calculation,  the  results  of  dif- 
ferent theories.  The  first  adopted  the  theory  of  one  fluid, — the 
latter  that  of  two.  Coulomb's  theory  has  been  calculated  to  its 
results  with  the  utmost  precision  and  detail,  and  shows  a  most 
striking  coincidence  with  the  facts  of  observation ;  yet  in  con- 
sequence, perhaps,  of  the  highly  abstruse  character  of  his  rea- 
sonings, it  was  not  generally  received.  The  law,  however,  that 
the  force  of  electrical  attraction  varies  inversely  as  the  square 
of  the  distance,  his  calculations  satisfactorily  established. 

Since  the  present  century,  the  improved  methods  of  mathe- 
matical investigation,  which  Laplace  had  invented  for  calcu- 
lating astronomical  problems,  rendered  a  higher  application  pos- 
sible of  mathematics  to  electricity.  In  1801,  Biot  determin- 
ed thus  the  distribution  of  electricity  upon  the  surface  of  a 
spheroid  with  great  exactness.  In  1811,  Poisson  calculated 
another  of  the  problems  to  which  many  of  Coulomb's  experi- 
ments were  referable,  with  very  striking  results  of  conformity. 
Still  later,  in  1836,  Mosotti,  of  Turin,  has  calculated  with  equal 
profoundness  and  precision,  the  mathematical  results  of  the  op- 
posite theory  of  Epinus,  of  a  single  fluid.     As  his  results  display 


94  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

not  merely  an  accordance  with  observed  facts,  but  open  before 
us  some  remarkable  general  views  of  the  nature  of  the  mechan- 
ical forces  of  cohesion,  gravitation,  &c.,  they  have  awakened 
much  interest,  and  scientific  opinion  is  yet  divided  upon  the 
question  of  one  or  two  fluids.  Mosotti  found  that  the  particles 
of  the  electrical  fluid  would,  upon  his  theory,  at  the  smallest 
distances  repel  each  other — at  greater  distances  the  repulsion 
would  vanish,  while  at  all  perceptible  distances  they  would  at- 
tract each  other  with  a  force  inversely  as  the  square  of  the 
distance.  There  would  thus  be  a  certain  point  at  which  the 
attraction  and  the  repulsion  would  precisely  balance  each  other, 
and  constitute  a  stable  equilibrium  between  the  particles ;  and 
this,  he  suggests,  may  be  the  circumstance  on  which  the  phys- 
ical structure  of  bodies  depends.  So  comprehensive  a  general- 
ization has  been  felt  to  be  worthy  of  careful  inquiry,  and  at  this 
point  the  two  electrical  theories  now  rest. 

At  the  same  time  the  tendency  of  speculation  in  reference  to 
the  other  imponderable  agents,  light  and  heat,  is  strongly  to 
discard  altogether  the  idea  of  a  material  fluid,  and  this  tendency 
may,  perhaps,  affect  the  theories  of  electricity  also.  However 
this  may  be,  the  formulae  thus  elaborately  calculated  will  stand 
as  expressions  for  the  laws  which  govern  the  distribution  and 
action  of  electrical  forces. 


SECTION  VII. 

GENERAL    CHEMISTRY MAGNETISM. 

The  history  of  magnetism  bears  a  general  resemblance  to 
that  of  electricity,  and  many  of  the  same  persons  were  employed 
in  the  two  trains  of  research.  The  creneral  fact  of  mag^netic  at- 
traction  was  known  to  the  ancients  ;  and  it  was  early  ascertained 
that  magnets  have  poles,  of  which  the  similar  ones  attract,  and 


AND    REGISTER.  95 

the  opposite  ones  repel,  each  other.  The  discovery  of  terrestrial 
magnetism  and  of  the  compass,  marks  a  grand  advance  of 
knowledge  on  this  subject ;  and  by  the  seventeenth  century  sev- 
eral other  facts  of  much  interest  were  developed ;  those,  for  in- 
stance, of  the  dip,  and  of  the  local  and  diurnal  variations  of  the 
magnetic  needle.  The  laws  of  this  variation  were  first  carefully 
investigated  by  Halley,  under  the  auspices  of  William  and 
Mary. 

General  magnetic  theories  were  proposed  in  the  last  century, 
by  the  same  eminent  men  who  discussed  the  two  hypotheses  of 
Electricity,  Epinus  and  Coulomb  ;  and  their  theories  bore  a  sim- 
ilar relation  to  each  other.  The  former  adopted  the  idea  of  one 
magnetic  fluid  manifesting  itself  by  excess  and  defect ;  the  lat- 
ter, that  of  two  distinct  fluids.  Coulomb  first  ascertained  that 
here  also  the  law  of  the  force  is  that  of  the  inverse  square,  in 
opposition  to  the  opinion  of  Newton,  who  imagined  it  to  be  in- 
versely as  the  cube  of  the  distance.  Some  other  important 
laws  are  due  to  his  investigations,  to  which  his  invention  of  the 
torsion  balance  chiefly  contributed.  The  calculations  to  which 
he  submitted  his  theory  developed  some  results  of  an  important 
kind,  which  experiment  subsequently  confirmed. 

Within  the  present  century  the  highest  processes  of  mathe- 
matical analysis  have  been  applied  to  this  subject,  by  Biot,  in 
.  1811,  and  by  Poisson  in  1824.  The  result  has  been  the  attain- 
ment of  the  law  which  regulates  the  distribution  of  the  mag- 
netic fluid  on  an  elliptical  spheroid,  by  the  former ;  and  general 
expressions  for  the  attractions  and  repulsions  of  a  body  of  any 
form  whatever,  by  the  latter.  Previously,  however.  Barlow  had 
experimentally  ascertained  some  remarkable  facts,  and  obtained 
some  important  rules  for  determining  the  amount  of  the  varia- 
tion of  the  needle.  He  discovered  that  sensible  magnetism  re- 
sided only  in  the  surface  of  bodies  ;  and  that  a  thin  shell  of  iron 
produced  as  much  effect  as  a  solid  ball  of  the  same  diameter. 
He  was  enabled,  too,  to  correct  the  deviation  of  the  needle,  which 


96  CHRISTIAN    RETllOSPECT 

is  caused  by  the  iron  fostenings  of  a  vessel,  by  placing  a  small 
plate  of  iron  in  a  counteracting  position  near  the  compass — a 
happy  improvement  in  the  use  of  that  instrument.  His  experi- 
ments and  formulae,  are  deemed  to  give  a  strong  confirmation  to 
the  theory  of  Coulomb ;  of  which  Barlow's  was  only  a  novel 
aspect. 

Terrestrial  magnetism  has  been  largely  indebted  to  the  elab- 
orate observations  of  Humboldt,  who  successfully  established  the 
line  round  the  earth,  at  which  the  needle  does  not  dip — termed 
the  magnetic  equator.  Biot's  analysis  of  Humboldt's  observa- 
tions led  him  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  earth,  as  a  magnet,  may 
be  regarded  as  having  its  poles  near  its  centre.  Captain  Ross, 
in  his  second  Arctic  voyage,  reached  the  spot  where  one  of 
these  poles  is  indicated,  the  dip  there  being  so  great  that  the 
needle  stood  absolutely  in  a  vertical  position. 

Hansteen  showed  that  the  observations  compel  us  to  suppose 
that  there  are  four  of  these  poles ;  two  in  the  Northern,  and 
two  in  the  Southern  hemisphere;  and  that  instead  of  being 
stationary,  they  move  with  different  velocities,  and  in  different 
directions.  "  This  curious  collection  of  facts,"  Prof.  Whewell 
observes, "  awaits  the  hand  of  future  theorists,  when  the  ripeness 
of  time  shall  invite  them  to  the  task." 

A  more  recent  analysis,  by  Gauss,  of  the  whole  body  of  mag- 
netic observations  has  introduced  yet  another  distinction,  which 
materially  elucidates  the  problem.  He  shows  that  there  is  but 
one  magnetic  pole^  properly  so  called,  in  each  hemisphere,  char- 
acterized by  the  vertical  dip  of  the  needle,  though  each  hemi- 
sphere contains  two  magnetic  foci  of  intensity.  One  of  these  is 
in  North  America,  and  the  other,  somewhat  less  intense,  in  Siberia. 

As  the  identity  of  magnetic  and  electrical  actions  have  been 
already  ascertained,  the  question  of  the  reality  of  a  material 
magnetic  fluid  is  involved  in  much  doubt.  The  history  of  the 
discovery  of  this  connecting  link  belongs  to  the  next  branch  of 
the  subject. 


AND    REGISTER.  97 


SECTION  vin. 

GENERAL    CHEMISTRY GALVANISM. 

Three  successive  discoveries  in  this  branch  of  general  chem- 
istry characterize,  according  to  Cuvier,  the  principal  epochs  of 
its  earlier  stage.  Of  these,  the  first  was  its  effect  upon  the  an- 
imal system — discovered  by  Galvani,  at  Bologna,  in  1790, — the 
second,  its  nature  and  origin,  demonstrated  by  Volta,  another 
Italian  professor,  in  1794  ;  and  the  third,  its  remarkable  chem- 
ical properties,  discovered  by  Davy  and  Nicholson. 

Galvani's  discovery  of  muscular  motion  by  electricity,  came 
at  a  period  when  electrical  science  was  almost  stationary,  and 
consequently  excited  great  notice.  As  the  cause  was  supposed 
to  be  a  peculiar  kind  of  electricity  residing  in  the  muscles  of 
animals,  it  gave  rise  to  many  experiments,  and  to  much  specu- 
lation. 

It  was  Volta,  however,  who  ascertained  philosophically  the 
conditions  of  its  origin.  He  found  that  the  electricity  sprang 
from  the  simple  contact  of  two  metals  ;  and  that  the  muscular 
contractions  which  Galvani  had  observed,  were  only  the  ordi- 
nary effects  of  that  fluid.  He  soon  after  discovered  a  method 
of  accumulating  this  electricity,  the  influence  of  which  is  similar 
to  that  of  the  Leyden  phial  in  common  electricity.  By  a  great 
multiplication  of  the  number  of  metallic  plates,  separated  by  wet 
pasteboard,  he  found  the  two  electricities  developed  at  the  two  ends 
respectively,  of  the  pile  thus  formed.  He  proved  that  all  the  at- 
tractions and  repulsions  of  the  Leyden  jar  could  be  thus  obtained ; 
and  ascertained  that  the  pile  resembled  the  action  of  such  a  jar, 
feebly  charged,  and  constantly  renewing  its  charge.  He  found, 
too,  that  by  this  continued  action  the  most  remarkable  chemical 
changes  were  produced  ;  rnany  substances  being  rapidly  decom- 
posed under  its  influence.     By  enlarging  the  size  of  the  plates, 

5 


88  CHR1STIA,V    RETROSPECT 

a  great  power  of  producing  heat  was  developed,  while  a  vast 
power  of  decomposition  resulted  from  a  simihir  inci'case  of  their 
nuviher.  These  effects  were  severally  ascribed  to  the  different 
states  of  the  electric  fluid — the  former  to  its  quantity,  and  the 
latter  to  its  intensity — distinctions  which  have  since  assumed  a 
high  importance,  and  been  much  more  fully  investigated. 

The  attempts  to  connect  magnetism  with  electricity,  whi3h 
had  nearly  died  away,  were,  in  the  year  1820,  suddenly  and 
vigorously  revived  by  Oersted,  of  Copenhagen,  who  then  an- 
nounced the  discovery,  that  the  needle  suffers  a  decided  change 
from  proximity  to  the  conducting  wire  of  a  voltaic  circuit.  It 
very  unexpectedly  appeared,  that  the  needle  tends  to  assume  a 
position  at  right  angles  to  the  wire.  This  singular  fact  greatly 
stimulated  scientific  inquiry  ;  many  observers  soon  corroborated 
the  statement,  and  added  new  facts  to  those  which  Oersted  had 
observed  in  electro-magnetism.  Among  these  Ampere  was 
prominent,  who  immediately  inferred,  and  soon  afterward 
proved,  that  the  earth,  considered  as  a  magnet,  must,  and  does, 
affect  the  position  of  the  voltaic  wire.  He  advanced  rapidly  to 
a  general  theory  of  the  subject,  which  implied  that  the  voltaic 
wires  must  attract  and  repel  each  other.  This  conclusion  was 
immediately  tested  and  verified  by  experiment,  and  the  laws 
of  the  attractions  and  repulsions  ascertained  with  ingenuity. 

Another  singular  fact  was  brought  to  light  by  Faraday,  in 
1821, — that  this  force  would  cause  a  revolution  in  either  of  the 
two  bodies,  the  magnetic  needle  or  the  voltaic  wire,  about  the 
other ;  a  fact  which  again  gave  rise  to  several  curious  inquiries. 
It  was  soon  ascertained  that  this  force,  so  peculiar  in  its  direc- 
tion, followed  the  law  of  all  similar  forces,  in  being  inversely  as 
the  square  of  the  distance. 

As  the  needle  assumed  a  position  at  right  angles  to  the 
wire,  it  might  be  supposed  either  that  the  wire  was  a  collection 
of  transverse  needles,  or  that  the  magnetic  needle  was  a  bundle 
of  transverse  wires.     In  either  case  they  would  assume  toward 


AND    KEC  iSTER.  99 

eacli  other  the  positions  thus  indicated.  Ampere  adopted  the 
latter  of  these  suppositions,  in  opposition  to  most  of  the  philos- 
ophers ;  and  succeeded,  not  without  some  complex  calculations, 
in  explaining  by  means  of  it  all  the  classes  of  phenomena  which 
have  been  mentioned.  The  theory  was  for  some  time  contested, 
particularly  by  Biot,  who  had  adopted  a  different  view ;  but  in 
a  succession  of  papers  presented  to  the  French  Academy,  and 
extending  through  a  period  of  nearly  two  years,  Ampere  vin- 
dicated his  theory  from  all  objection,  and  satisfactorily  estab- 
lished its  exclusive  conformity  to  the  various  facts. 

In  1832  a  brilliant  career  of  discovery  was  commenced  by 
Faraday.  From  the  moment  that  magnetism  had  been  proved 
to  be  a  particular  form  of  electrical  action  it  had  seemed  prac- 
ticable to  produce  electricity  by  magnetism ;  and  an  experiment 
of  Arago's  had  even  seemed  to  involve  this  effect.  The  revo- 
lution of  a  conducting-plate  acted  upon  a  magnet  in  its  neigh- 
borhood. Following  this  suggestion,  Faraday  succeeded,  after 
some  futile  endeavors,  in  detecting  a  momentary  effect  in  a 
neighboring  wire,  at  the  moments  at  which  a  voltaic  circuit 
was  formed  or  broken,  and  thus  established  magneto-electric  in- 
duction. Simplifying  the  arrangements,  he  soon  ascertained 
other  important  laws ;  and  finally,  that  the  earth  itself  might 
supply  the  place  of  a  magnet,  and  that  the  mere  motion  of  a 
wire  would,  in  appropriate  circumstances,  produce  a  temporary 
electric  current.  The  various  and  peculiar  facts  which  he  had 
discovered,  he  soon  succeeded  in  reducing  to  a  general  law,  by 
referring  the  position  and  motion  of  the  wire  to  magnetic 
curves,  which  go  from  one  pole  of  the  magnet  to  the  other.  The 
general  view  in  which  he  has  united  these  various  discoveries, 
is  regarded  as  forming  a  most  important  step  in  the  progress  of 
this  science. 

The  subsequent  history  of  these  sciences,  merges  into  that  of 
chemistry  proper,  under  which  head  we  shall  again  refer  to  them. 


100  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 


SECTION  IX. 


CHEMISTRY    PROPER. 


During  the  last  century  tlie  chemistry  of  aeriform  bodies 
formed  a  principal  subject  of  chemical  investigation,  and  it  was 
through  these  investigations  that  the  chief  discoveries  of  the 
earlier  portions  of  that  century  were  made.  In  1755,  Black,  at 
Glasgow,  showed  that  the  gases  formed  constituent  elements  of 
solid  and  fluid  bodies.  In  1766,  Cavendish  pointed  out  the 
peculiar  properties  of  hydrogen  gas,  or,  as  it  was  then  called, 
inflammable  air.  In  1774,  Priestley  discovered  oxygen,  and  at 
about  the  same  period  nitrogen,  and  some  other  gases.  Finally, 
in  1782,  the  brilliant  experiments  of  Cavendish  determined  the 
composition  of  water,  and  visibly  combined  the  two  gaseous 
elements  in  the  fluid  form, — a  result  which  was  received  with 
general  assent  and  admiration. 

During  this  period,  however,  the  general  theory  of  chemistry 
was  that  known  as  the  phlogistic  theory,  which  supposed  com- 
bustion to  take  place  by  the  extrication  of  an  invisible  substance, 
termed  phlogiston,  from  the  burning  body.  However  errone- 
ous this  theory  may  have  been,  it  is  generally  now  regarded  as 
having  formed  a  most  important  step  in  the  progress  of  chem- 
istry, and  from  its  adoption  by  Stahl,  a  German  chemist,  and 
its  promulgation  in  1718,  it  enjoyed  a  wide  and  almost  univer- 
sal acceptance. 

At  length,  however,  as  continued  investigation  extended  the 
body  of  known  facts,  the  insufficiency  of  the  theory  became  ap- 
parent, and  the  necessity  of  some  other  began  to  be  felt.  The 
nomenclature,  too,  of  the  science  was  altogether  empirical  and 
grotesque  in  itself,  and  inadequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the  occa- 
sion, when  the  facts  to  be  classified,  and  the  objects  to  be 
named,  had  become  very  numerous.    A  new  nomenclature  was 


AND   REGISTER,  101 

proposed,  in  1781,  and  was  fully  executed  by  an  association  of 
French  chemists,  in  1787,  which  introduced  great  clearness  and 
connection  into  the  facts  of  chemistry.  In  1789,  Lavoisier  gave 
to  the  world  a  treatise,  in  which  the  new  nomenclature  and  the 
new  theory  of  oxygen  were  fully  explained,  and  applied  to  the 
whole  body  of  the  facts  then  known.  A  great  degree  of  mathe- 
matical accuracy  had  been  already  introduced  into  chemical  in- 
vestigations, particularly  by  Bergman,  in  his  mineral  analyses, 
— by  Priestley  in  his  experiments  upon  the  gases, — or,  as  they 
were  then  called,  airs, — and  especially  by  Cavendish.  The 
beautiful  experiments  and  happy  explanations  of  Lavoisier  com- 
mended the  new  system  to  the  delight  and  acceptance  of  the 
scientific  world ;  and,  though  opposed  by  some  of  the  eminent 
chemists  of  the  day,  it  soon  secured  a  general  adoption.  Priestley, 
however,  in  the  last  year  of  the  past  century,  was  yet  earnestly 
combating  it,  and  never  adopted  either  the  scientific  nomen- 
clature, or  the  new  theory  of  combustion. 

From  this  time  the  science  made  most  rapid  advances.  Many 
new  elements  came  successively  to  light.  The  number  of  known 
metals,  in  1789,  was  seventeen;  of  which  platina  had  been 
but  recently  discovered,  and  another,  uranium,  was  detected  in 
that  year.  The  year  1795  witnessed  the  discovery  of  titanium, 
and  1798  that  of  tellurium;  while,  in  1797,  Vauquehn  made 
the  brilliant  discovery  of  chromium.  Columhium  was  drawn 
from  a  mineral  of  the  United  States  in  1802;  cerium  was  ascer- 
tained in  1801 ;  four  others  of  quite  remarkable  character  were 
detected  in  crude  platinum,  in  1805  and  1806.  The  list  of 
elementary  metallic  substances  ran  up  soon  to  twenty-seven  or 
eight. 

Several  new  earths  were  discovered,  during  the  same  period. 
Five  were  known  in  1789,  and  by  the  end  of  the  century  four 
more  were  added  to  the  number. 

The  mineral  acids  became  known  in  the  course  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century ;  but  the  animal  and  vegetable  acids  were  by  no 


102  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

means  as  well  ascertained.  Soon,  however,  under  the  influence 
of  the  new  systems,  a  very  great  number  of  these  were  brought 
to  light  and  carefully  discriminated. 

The  various  elements,  acids,  &c.,  thus  discovered  formed,  of 
course,  even  in  their  simplest  combinations,  a  very  great  num- 
ber of  substances,  which  afforded  to  chemical  investigation  a 
vast  field  of  inquiry  and  research.  The  determination  of  the 
respective  quantities  of  the  acid  and  of  the  base  in  the  various 
salts,  required  very  long  researches,  especially  in  the  case  of  the 
metallic  salts,  which  have  been  very  carefully  investigated,  and 
with  many  results  of  great  utility  in  the  arts.  The  same  inves- 
tigation was  necessary  to  determine  the  precise  amounts  of  the 
different  elements  of  each  of  the  gases,  while  the  different  pro- 
ducts, both  solid  and  fluid,  of  the  animal  organizations,  demand- 
ed numerous  and  laborious  analyses,  and  offered  in  return  many- 
novel  and  interesting  results. 

At  about  the  same  period  an  English  chemist,  Dalton,  achiev- 
ed a  grand  advance  in  this  science  by  the  discovery  of  the  atomic 
theory.  Some  of  the  principles  involved  in  it  had  been  sug- 
gested before,  but  had  nowhere  acquired  due  prominence.  The 
essential  points  of  this  theory  are  three  : — "  That  elements  com- 
bine by  weight  in  definite  proportions ;  that  these  determining 
proportions  operate  reciprocally ;  and  that  when,  between  the 
same  elements,  several  combining  proportions  occur,  they  are 
related  as  multiples^''  The  last  of  these  principles  was  entirely 
new  to  the  scientific  world,  and  even  the  first  had  but  shortly 
before  been  called  in  question  by  BerthoUet.  The  discovery  was 
soon  generally  admitted,  and  was  received  with  great  admiration. 

The  theory  received,  immediately  upon  its  introduction  into 
France,  an  important  modification.  It  was  ascertained  by  Gay 
Lussac,  that  the  gases  combine  hy  volume,  in  very  simple  and 
definite  proportions.  With  this  modification  it  has  received  a 
universal  currency,  and  has  been  esteemed  for  the  definiteness 


AND    REGISTER.  103 

and  precision  which  it  has  introduced  into  the  science, — a  re- 
markable and  most  important  step  in  its  progress. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  discoveries  of  the  present  century, 
■was  the  reduction  by  Davy,  in  1807,  of  the  fixed  alkahes,  soda, 
and  potash,  to  a  metallic  base.  It  had  been  suspected  that 
these  were  compound  bodies,  since  the  time  of  Berthollet's  suc- 
cessful analysis  of  the  volatile  alkali,  but  all  attempts  to  decom- 
pose them  had  proved  vain,  up  to  the  period  of  Cuvier's  Keport 
on  the  Natural  Sciences,  in  1808,  in  which  they  are  still  classed 
as  elementary.  The  value  of  this  beautiful  discovery  lay  not 
merely  in  the  knowledge  M'hich  it  afforded  of  the  alkaline 
metals  themselves,  but  in  the  new  laws  which  it  revealed,  and 
in  the  new  field  which  it  opened, — at  once  enlarging  the  domain, 
and  correcting  the  principles,  of  science. 

This  discovery  was  shortly  after  followed  by  several  others  of 
a  similar  kind ;  the  effect  of  which  was  to  concentrate  the  at- 
tention of  the  chemical  world  upon  the  investigations  and 
views  from  which  they  had  resulted.  Davy  had  been  for  some 
time  engaged  upon  experiments  designed  to  illustrate  the  rela- 
tions between  chemistry  and  some  forms  of  galvanic  and  elec- 
trical action  ;  and  it  was  in  pursuance  of  the  theoretical  views 
which  he  entertained  upon  these  subjects,  that  these  discoveries 
had  been  made. 

The  decomposition  of  water  by  electricity,  had  been  observed 
in  1800;  and  in  1806,  Davy  announced  his  great  discovery, 
that  "  The  combinations  and  decompositions  by  electricity,  were 
referable  to  the  law  of  electrical  attractions  and  repulsions ;" 
and  advanced  the  theorj^,  that  chemical  and  electrical  attrac- 
tions were  due  to  the  same  cause.  This  beautiful  generalization 
is  regarded  as  one  of  the  great  events  in  the  scientific  history 
of  this  period  ;  and  it  was  immediately  recognized  as  such  all 
over  Europe.  The  author  of  it  received  the  distinguished 
honor  of  a  prize  of  .3,000  francs,  authorized  by  Napoleon,  and 
awarded  by  the  French  Institute,  for  the  best  experiments  on 


104  CHRISTIAN   RETROSPECT 

the  galvanic  fluid,  though  the  two  nations  were  at  this  period  in 
fierce  hostility. 

This  theory  of  Davy,  at  first  put  forth  in  terms  much  too 
general  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  science,  received  its  full  con- 
firmation from  the  researches  of  Faraday.  By  a  long  series  of 
experimental  investigations,  he  established  a  principle,  through 
which  the  definite  measurement  of  the  quantity  of  electrical 
forces  became  practicable.  By  the  application  of  this  method 
he  succeeded  in  obtaining  for  each  elementary  substance,  a 
number  which  represented  the  relative  amount  of  its  decompo- 
sition— or  in  other  words,  its  "  electro-chemical  equivalent." 

The  proportion  of  these  numbers  was  found,  upon  inquiry, 
to  coincide  with  the  atomic  weights  of  the  Daltonian  theory. 
The  result  of  these  investigations  was  the  complete  establish- 
ment of  the  great  law  which  Davy  had  suggested — the  identity 
of  electrical  and  chemical  nction  ;  the  widest  and  most  compre- 
hensive generalization  to  which  chemistry  has  yet  attained. 

Since  Davy's  discovery  of  Potassium,  in  1807,  almost  all  the 
earths  and  alkalies  have  been  resolved  into  metallic  bases, 
though  some  have  conceived  that  the  base  of  silica  is  more  an- 
alogous to  carbon.  The  position,  therefore,  of  this  substance  is 
yet  somewhat  doubtful. 

The  unrestricted  statement  of  the  theory  of  Lavoisier,  that 
acids  were  formed  in  all  instances  by  combination  with  oxygen, 
■was  soon  called  in  question ;  and  an  important  modification  was 
suggested  simultaneously  by  Davy,  and  by  several  of  the  French 
chemists.  In  1812,  an  experiment  was  performed  by  the 
former,  in  the  presence  of  several  eminent  philosophers  at  Edin- 
burgh, the  result  of  which  was  to  satisfy  them  that  muriatic 
acid  was  not  so  constituted.  A  new  view  of  that  subject  has, 
in  consequence,  been  since  taken  by  most  chemists ;  and  that 
acid  is  regarded  as  a  combination  of  hydrogen,  with  a  peculiar 
principle,  called  chlorine.  The  existence  of  one  such  acid  sug* 
gested  inquiry  in  respect  to  others  ;  and  several  are  now  recog- 


AND    REGISTER.  105 

nized  as  probably  possessiog  a  similar  constitution.  Four  im- 
portant principles,  chlorine,  iodine,  bromine,  and  lauorine,  are 
now  classed  as  analogous,  among  the  elements  of  chemistry, 
though  the  last  of  these  has  not  yet  been  separately  obtained. 

The  number  of  elementary  substances  was  reported,  in  1837, 
by  Prof.  Whewell,  to  be  fifty-three;  since  then,  writers  on 
chemistry  enumerate  fifty-five,  and  some  substances  which  are 
yet  but  imperfectly  known,  carry  it  to  not  less  than  sixty. 

A  vast  amount  of  chemical  research  has  been  expended  in 
the  formation  and  analysis  of  salts.  Some  idea  of  the  extent 
of  these  researches  may  be  formed  from  the  fact,  that  more  than 
two  thousand  compounds  of  this  kind  have  been  described  or 
indicated,  a  great  proportion  of  which  have  been  largely  investi- 
gated. 

More  recently  the  attention  of  chemists  has  been  extensively 
devoted  to  the  ananlysis  of  organic  products.  Many  of  the  re- 
sults of  the  earlier  inquirers  of  the  present  century,  having 
proved  inaccurate,  numerous  attempts  have  been  made  to  im- 
prove the  methods  of  vegetable  analysis,  so  as  to  secure  more 
constant  and  exact  results.  Through  these  improvements,  the 
existence  of  a  very  great  number  of  vegetable  acids  has  been 
ascertained.  In  1832,  they  were  set  down  at  eighty-two  in 
number.  The  list  of  vegetable  alkalies  included,  at  the  same 
time,  no  less  than  thirty-three. 

The  merit  of  the  first  great  discovery  of  this  kind  is  due 
to  Serturner,  whose  remarkable  discovery  in  opium  of  mor- 
phine, a  vegetable  alkali,  to  which  the  soporific  qualities  of  that 
drug  are  owing,  took  place  at  Edinburgh,  in  1805,  and  led  the 
way  to  a  train  of  discoveries  to  which  much  of  our  knowledge 
in  this  branch  is  owing.  He  was  followed  by  Pelletier  and 
Caventon,  who  soon  after  discovered  strychnine,  and  detected 
quinine,  the  active  principle  of  Peruvian  bark,  in  1820. 

Many  important  points,  in  respect  to  the  nature  of  these  prox- 
imate principles,  are  yet  involved  in  much  doubt.    It  is  impos- 


106  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

sible  jct  to  say  whether  they  are  or  are  not  binary  compounds — • 
^vhether  the  alkahes  do,  or  do  not,  contain  ammonia — and,  ia 
some  instances,  whether  they  really  exist  in  the  substances  from 
which  they  are  derved,  or  are  formed  by  the  lengthened  pro- 
cesses by  means  of  which  they  are  obtained. 

Other  vegetable  principles,  possessing  neither  alkaline  nor  acid 
properties,  have  been  extracted  from  a  great  variety  of  sub- 
stances. Of  these,  twelve  are  described  as  coloring  matters ; — 
eighteen  as  gums,  resins,  &c. ; — and  thirty-seven  as  indifferent 
principles — neither  acid  nor  alkaline.  Besides  which  there  is 
a  vast  variety  of  vegetable  oils,  many  of  which  are  not  charac- 
terized by  properties  sufficiently  distinct  to  make  their  differ- 
ences easily  intelligible.  Many  of  these  substances  have  been 
found  capable  of  most  important  and  extensive  application  in 
the  useful  arts  ;  and  others  have  proved  of  the  highest  value  in 
medicine. 

In  Animal  chemistry  similar  researches  have  been  instituted 
into  the  composition  of  the  various  products  of  the  animal  econ- 
omy, with  results,  however,  less  numerous.  The  number  of 
proximate  principles  yet  discovered  is  materially  smaller.  An- 
imal chemistry  has  been  chiefly  studied  in  connection  with 
physiology;  and  most  of  the  investigations  have  had  reference 
to  the  healthy  or  diseased  functions  of  the  human  system.  The 
various  products  and  tissues  of  the  system  have  been  carefully 
examined.  The  blood,  the  bile,  milk,  albumen,  fat,  &c.,  have 
each  been  the  subject  of  careful  and  extended  researches.  Of 
acid  principles,  twenty,  and  of  indifferent  and  alkaline,  thirty- 
four,  were,  in  1832,  reported,  as  well  characterized,  and  estab- 
lished, to  the  British  Association  ;  besides  a  considerable  num- 
ber which  were  yet  involved  in  some  obscurity.  At  that 
period  the  fatty  bodies  were  the  only  ones  which  had  been 
thoroughly  investigated ;  and  the  name  of  Chevreul  was  honor- 
ably distinguished  in  their  investigation. 

The  great  number  of  specific  principles  thus  estabhshed,  in- 


AND    REGISTER.  107 

volving  a  very  wide  extension  of  our  knowledge  of  the  chemistry 
of  animal  and  vegetable  organization,  has  necessarily  led  to 
much  both  of  reasoning  and  of  research  in  these  departments. 
Questions  of  the  highest  interest  could  not  fail  to  be  suggested, 
as  soon  as  any  specific  knowledge  was  obtained  of  the  nature 
and  the  variety  of  the  products  of  animal  and  vegetable  life. 
The  characteristics  of  these  peculiar  compounds, — the  sources 
from  which  they  were  derived, — the  processes  by  which  they 
were  elaborated, — the  ends  which  they  subserved  in  the  organ- 
ization that  produced  them, — these  and  numerous  other  prob- 
lems of  the  same  kind  tasked  the  ingenuity  and  the  resources 
of  the  chemical  philosophers  to  the  utmost.  The  whole  great 
mystery  of  organic  life,  with  its  numerous  and  remarkable  phe- 
nomena of  respiration,  nutrition,  digestion, — of  growth  and  de- 
cay,— of  combination  and  decomposition, — demanded  elucida- 
tion at  the  hand  of  this  advanced  science,  which  had  already 
penetrated  to  so  many  of  the  secrets  of  nature. 

Among  philosophers  who  have  attempted  the  solution  of  such 
problems,  none  has  achieved  greater  distinction  than  Liebig. 
His  observations,  which  have  been  prosecuted  with  the  highest 
enthusiasm,  have  combined  great  acuteness  of  research  with  an 
uncommon  spirit  of  philosophical  generalization.  Some  of  the 
most  remarkable  instances  of  philosophical  deduction,  which  the 
recent  history  of  science  records,  are  to  be  found  in  his  specula- 
tions in  organic  chemistry.  Thus,  the  capacity  which  chemical 
action  in  a  given  substance  had  been  observed,  in  some  instan- 
ces, to  possess  of  impressing  itself  upon  other  bodies,  and  origin- 
ating a  similar  action  in  them,  has  received  in  his  hands  a  gen- 
erahzation  of  the  widest  kind ;  and  the  universal  law  which  he 
has  sought  thus  to  establish,  furnishes  an  explanation  of  many 
phenomena  hitherto  inexplicable.  The  pernicious  influence  of 
malaria  and  of  putrid  substances, — the  contagion  of  diseases  and 
the  action  of  some  kinds  of  poisons, — are,  upon  this  theory,  ex- 
plained with  great  simplicity,  and  made  to  assume  the  character 


108  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

of  phenomena  determined  by  one  comprehensive  law.  Hia 
theory,  too,  of  animal  heat  and  of  respiration,  which  regards 
these  phenomena,  as  results  of  the  change  of  the  iron  in  the 
blood  from  one  to  the  other  of  its  oxides  in  the  lungs,  and  back 
again  in  the  capillaries  to  its  previous  form,  is  regarded  as  a 
beautiful  application  of  the  deductive  method,  completely  ex- 
plaining these  mysterious  phenomena.  Upon  the  validity  of 
these  speculations  chemical  science  has  not  yet  fully  pronounced, 
though  there  seems  to  be  a  strong  disposition  to  impose  con- 
siderable limitations  upon  Liebig's  statements  of  the  fundamen- 
tal facts  of  his  philosophy. 

The  extent  to  which  subsequent  investigation  may  carry  these 
modifications  of  his  theories,  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  con- 
jecture ;  but  there  seems  little  reason  to  doubt  that  in  many 
important  respects  his  views  will  long  be  regarded  as  beautiful 
examples  of  scientific  research  which  have  extended  the  domain 
of  known  chemical  laws  over  some  of  the  widest,  most  compli- 
cated, and  most  interesting  phenomena  of  organized  nature. 

It  is  impossible  to  convey  any  idea  within  the  brief  limits  to 
which  this  sketch  must  be  confined  of  the  vast  amount  of  ob- 
servation and  thought  to  which  these  various  discoveries  are 
owing.  It  has  been  a  prominent  subject  of  investigation  in 
every  intelligent  community.  England,  France,  Germany,  Swe- 
den, Italy,  have  all  contributed  to  its  development,  nor  has  our 
own  country  been  without  distinction  in  this  brilliant  career  of 
discovery.  In  each  of  these  nations  a  host  of  ardent  observers 
has  labored  assiduously  in  the  cultivation  of  this  field.  Count- 
less analyses  and  experiments  have  been  demanded  for  the  dis- 
covery of  each  new  substance ;  and  every  discovery  has  required 
for  its  verification  processes  equally  elaborate  and  extended. 
The  research  has  involved  a  degree  of  accuracy  which  nothing 
but  the  most  patient  toil  could  have  attained,  and  which,  but  a 
very  short  time  since,  would  have  seemed  incredible.  A  new 
notation  for  the  description  by  brief  formulae  of  the  constantly- 


AND    REGISTER.  109 

increasing  number  of  new  organic  and  mineral  compounds  has 
been  invented  by  Berzelius,  and,  with  some  modifications  from 
the  German  chemists,  is  now  rapidly  coming  into  use.  Investi- 
gation has  already  ascertained,  by  numerous  and  oft-repeated 
experiment,  the  precise  composition  of  almost  every  product  of 
animal,  or  of  vegetable  life.  The  wood, — the  bark, — the  leaves, 
— the  fruits  of  each  species  of  cultivated  plants, — nay,  of  every 
variety  at  every  period  of  the  year,  and  at  every  stage  of  its 
growth, — have  been  analyzed  and  recorded.  Each  tissue  of  the 
animal  system, — the  bones, — the  muscles,  —  the  brain, — the 
blood, — each  fluid  secreted  or  excreted  in  the  animal  economy, — • 
each  healthy  and  each  diseased  product  of  organic  life, — has 
been  thousands  of  times  analyzed,  and  the  analysis  verified  by 
countless  observations. 

Whatever  may  become  of  recent  theories,  the  vast  body  of  facts 
which  chemistry  has  already  accumulated,  must  remain,  together 
with  many  of  the  established  laws  of  a  general  kind,  to  form 
the  starting  point  for  future  observers.  With  such  materials, 
advanced  to  such  a  state  of  generalization  as  chemistry  now  un- 
questionably possesses,  the  highest  general  views  cannot  be  very 
remote,  and  we  may  anticipate  a  speedy  solution  of  those  mys- 
terious phenomena  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  which  are  open 
to  physical  investigation,  the  attainment  of  which  seems  now  the 
aim  of  chemical  science  in  the  future. 


SECTION  X. 

MINERALOGY. 

As  mineralogy  is  peculiarly  a  science  of  classification,  its 
progress  must  be  measured  essentially  by  the  systems  of  classi- 
fication which  have  been  adopted.  The  first  of  these  had  been 
offered  by  Werner  in  the  last  century,  and  recognized  almost 
exclusively  the  external  characters  of  minerals,  as  its  basis.     In 


110  CIIRISTIAX    RETROSPECT 

the  discrimination  of  minerals  by  differences  of  color,  weight, 
hardness,  <fec.,  tliis  school  gained  great  distinction,  and  furnished 
materials  of  great  value  for  future  use. 

The  constancy  of  the  angles  of  crystallization  had,  however, 
impressed  several  minds  during  this  period  ;  and  finally  Haiiy, 
a  French  mineralogist,  proposed,  in  1801,  his  system  of  crystal- 
lography. He  discovered  the  importance  of  cleavage,  and  the 
laws  by  which  secondary  forms  are  derived  from  more  funda- 
mental ones.  He  developed  these  principles  into  a  detailed  sys- 
tem, described  a  vast  number  of  secondary  forms,  which  he  de- 
duced by  mathematical  processes  from  the  primary  ones,  and 
examined  the  whole  mineral  kingdom  in  accordance  with  these 
views.  He  showed  that  the  crystalline  angles  are  the  criteria 
of  substances  ;  and  distinguished  baryta  and  stontia,  and  identi- 
fied the  beryl  and  the  emerald,  before  their  chemical  composi- 
tion had  been  ascertained.  His  lectures  were  eagerly  heard  by 
great  numbers  in  Paris ;  and  his  views  were  speedily  dissemina- 
ted throughout  the  world,  and  earnestly  pursued  by  many  ob- 
servers. 

The  system  received  a  modification  from  Weissul,  who  pro- 
posed a  system  of  crystals,  to  which  each  individual  might  be 
referred.  This  theory  regarded  the  crystal  as  disposed  about  an 
axis.  This  step  constituted  a  real  improvement,  and  soon  found 
confirmation  from  another  quarter.  The  optical  properties  of 
crystals,  double  refraction  and  dipolarization,  were  ascertained  by 
Sir  D.  Brewster  to  sustain  a  relation  to  these  systems  of  crys- 
tallization ;  and  the  distinction  was  thenceforth  established  as 
an  important  law  (which  farther  discovery  has  confirmed),  that 
the  geometrical  symmetry  corresponds  with  the  optical  proper- 
ties of  crystals. 

While  these  investigations  were  going  on  in  crystallography, 
another  system  was  in  formation,  which  took  the  chemical  com- 
position as  its  basis,  and  arranged  in  the  same  class  all  minerals 
which  were  found  to  be  chemically  alike.     The  necessity  for  a 


AND    REGISTER.  Ill 

n^w  system  arose  from  the  feet  now  discovered,  that  the  same 
anole  of  crvstalHzatlon  sometimes  characterizes  different  sub- 
stances ;  and  that  what  might  be  assigned  by  its  crystalhzation 
to  one  class  of  substances,  was  in  reality  wholly  diflferent.  The 
explanation  of  this  fact  is  due  to  Mitscherlich,  who  showed  that 
one  substance  may  sometimes  accurately  replace  another  in  the 
composition  of  a  mineral,  assuming  precisely  the  same  crystalline 
form.     This  discovery  of  Isomorphism  he  promulgated  in  1822. 

Berzelius  had,  before  this,  constructed  his  system  of  purely 
chemical  characters,  in  whicb  each  substance  was  classed  on  the 
principle  of  its  chemical  proportions,  and  particularly  with  refer- 
ence to  electro-chemical  properties.  He  arranged  all  minerals 
according  to  the  electro-chemical  character  of  their  elements, 
and  the  elements  themselves  as  electro-positive  or  electro-nega- 
tive in  different  degrees.  But  the  same  results  followed  his 
system, — it  was  found  impossible  to  conform  all  mineral  sub- 
stances to  it,  and  Berzelius  himself  gave  up  the  theory,  and  at- 
tempted another.  In  this  all  were  arranged  according  to  the 
same  class  of  agencies,  but  wholly  with  reference  to  the  electro- 
negative element.  Instead  of  classing  together  all  varieties  of 
iron  or  of  copper,  all  the  sulphurets,  all  the  oxides^  &c.,  were 
united. 

The  result,  however,  both  of  this  and  of  other  attempts  of 
the  same  kind,  was  unsuccessful ;  and  the  science  now  rests 
upon  a  mixed  method,  in  which  all  the  characters  of  these  va- 
rious systems  are  employed  for  distinguishing  minerals.  This 
method  is  of  course  very  complex,  and  involves  in  each  instance 
questions  of  chemical  composition — physical  character — and 
crystalline  form.  The  mass  of  mineral  species  has  now  become 
very  great,  and  is  continually  increasing,  and  the  difficulty  of 
discrimination  in  doubtful  cases  is  by  no  means  small.  But 
each  of  the  systems  we  have  mentioned  has  contributed  essen- 
tially to  our  means  of  knowledge,  and  together  they  furnish  a 
valuable  approximation  to  a  complete  system. 


112  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

SECTION  XL 

GEOLOGY. 

It  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  XVIth  century  that  geological 
facts  first  awakened  attention  and  inquiry  ;  and  within  the  next 
two  hundred  years  they  had  accumulated  to  a  considerable 
number,  especially  in  Italy,  and  had  given  rise  to  much  specula- 
tion. During  the  latter  part  of  the  XVIIIth  century  a  variety 
of  theories  had  been  proposed  for  the  explanation  of  such  facts 
as  were  then  known — theories  which  serve  at  present  only  to 
indicate  to  what  an  extent  the  w^onder  and  curiosity  of  inquirers 
had  been  awakened.  Buffon  had  proposed  a  theory  which 
found  advocates  till  the  close  of  that  century.  The  two  Ber- 
trands  had  originated  others  in  Switzerland  and  France  ;  and 
several  theorizers  in  England  and  Germany  had  obtained  sim- 
ilar distinction  by  the  same  means.  These  theories  were  of  a 
character  the  most  visionary  and  capricious.  The  first,  regarded 
our  earth  as  having  been  struck  oif  from  the  sun,  while  in  a 
heated  state,  by  a  comet — another,  as  having  been  originally  a 
mass  of  ice — and  upon  each  of  them  the  few  established  facts 
were  explained,  by  calling  in  any  agencies  which  might  seem 
adequate  to  such  effects. 

Other  observers,  however,  as  Saussure  in  the  Alps,  and  Pallas 
in  Siberia,  confined  themselves  to  the  collection  of  facts,  and 
accumulated  materials  which  have  proved  of  great  value  to 
their  successors.  At  the  close  of  that  century,  the  interest  of 
the  scientific  world  was  concentrated  upon  two  theories  which 
long  divided  the  suffrages  of  the  learned.  Werner,  a  Professor 
in  Saxony,  contended  that  all  rocks  were  deposited  by  water, 
and  this  was  known  as  the  Neptunian  theory ;  while  in  Scot- 
land, Button  taught  that  the  unstratified  rocks  had  been  de- 
posited in  a  melted  state,  and  his  theory  was  designated  accord- 


AND   REGISTER.  113 

ingly  as  the  Plutonian.  The  latter  of  these  views  has,  with 
iraportant  modifications,  been  adopted  by  most  subsequent 
geologists ;  yet  to  Werner  is  due  the  credit  of  having  extended 
correct  general  views  of  the  distinctions  of  classification  of  strata. 
In  1793,  an  Englishman,  William  Smith,  achieved  a  great  ad- 
vance in  geology  by  his  classification  of  the  strata  of  some  por- 
tions of  his  country ;  and  in  1815  he  gave  to  the  world  a  sur- 
vey of  England,  in  which  the  strata  were  discriminated  by  their 
organic  remains.  During  this  period  many  of  the  most  inge- 
nious minds  were  devoting  themselves  to  similar  researches. 
In  1807  the  formation  of  the  London  Geological  Society  took 
place, — an  association  which  has  materially  and  most  honorably 
connected  its  name  with  the  subsequent  progress  of  Geology  in 
England. 

In  the  mean  time  the  study  of  fossils  was  pursued  with  great 
genius  and  enthusiasm  in  various  countries.  Lamarck  and  De- 
france  determined  the  fossil  shells  in  the  neighborhood  of  Paris, 
and  in  1811,  the  memorable  work  of  Cuvier  and  Brogniart,  "On 
the  Environs  of  Paris,"  constituted  an  epoch  in  geological  science. 
Cuvier's  discovery  of  many  species  of  vertebrated  animals  in  the 
basin  of  Paris,  some  of  them  of  immense  size  and  of  the  most 
extraordinary  character,  stimulated  naturalists  throughout  Eu- 
rope to  more  extended  examinations  of  the  tertiary  strata,  from 
which  they  have  since  reaped  an  ample  harvest  of  most  import- 
ant facts.  The  restoration  of  more  than  forty  species  of  extinct 
quadrupeds,  principally  of  the  pachydermata,  attests  the  extent 
and  the  success  of  his  labors. 

Another  most  remarkable  group  of  animals, — the  Saurian, — 
was  brought  to  light  principally  by  the  geologists  of  England. 
In  1816,  Sir  Everard  Home  ascertained  that,  among  the  fossil 
remains  of  England,  were  some  which  it  was  impossible  to  ar- 
range with  any  known  class  of  animals.  The  animal  thus  re- 
ferred to  was  named  i\\Q  Ichthyosaurus,  as  intermediate  between 
fishes  and  hzardfe.     Another  still  more  nearly  approaching  the 


114  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

lizard,  was  discovered  by  Conybeare,  in  1821,  and  named  Pie- 
siosaurus.  These  were  marine  genera.  At  a  somewhat  later 
day.  Dr.  Buckland  designated  another,  and  a  terrestrial  genus, 
as  the  Megalosaurus,  and,  finally,  Dr.  Mantell  brought  to  light 
the  most  gigantic  of  them  all — the  Iguanodon — a  herbivorous 
reptile  of  nearly  100  feet  in  length.  There  are  noAV  at  least 
eighty  species  of  these  fossil  reptiles  known,  many  of  them  of 
immense  size  and  some  of  extraordinary  character.  They  have 
been  divided  by  Dr.  Buckland  into  four  groups, — the  Marine, 
Terrestrial,  Amphibious,  and  Flying  Reptiles. 

The  curiosity  and  wonder  excited  by  such  a  series  of  discov- 
eries greatly  stimulated  the  ardor  of  inquirers,  and  a  great  num- 
ber of  observers  now  pursued  investigations,  which  had  proved 
so  fruitful  of  novel  and  brilliant  results.  Many  of  the  most 
acute  and  philosophical  minds  of  the  age  have  been,  and  still 
are,  engaged  in  efforts  to  solve  the  problems  which  geology 
offers  to  our  examination.  The  investigations  of  Agassiz  upon 
the  fossil  fish,  published  in  two  separate  works  in  Neuchatel,  in 
1834,  and  in,  England,  in  1835,  have  resulted  in  a  new  and 
admirable  classi6cation  of  that  branch  of  physical  science.  More 
recently  the  observations  of  the  same  gentleman  upon  the  gla- 
ciers of  Switzerland  and  the  erratic  blocks,  have  opened  a  new 
field  of  investigation  in  the  ice  period. 

The  fossil  plants  were  first  fully  investigated  by  Brogniart. 
The  number  of  species  which  he  had  ascertained,  in  1836, 
amounted  to  527,  which  have  since  increased  to  about  two 
thousand.  As  a  large  proportion  of  plants  would  disappear 
during  the  process  of  fossilization,  fungi,  mosses,  &c.,  the  aggre- 
gate, it  is  supposed,  may  have  approached  the  existing  number. 
One  half  of  the  whole  are  contained  in  the  caroniferous  series, 
before  the  great  herbivorous  quadrupeds  existed. 

The  earliest  well-characterized  plants  hitherto  ascertained  are 
coniferous  trees  at  the  base  of  the  old  red  sandstone.     Their  dis- 

A 


a>:d  register.  115 

covery  is  due  to  the  protracted  investigations  of  Hugli  Miller,  ia 
a  field,  whose  fruitfulness  he  had  the  merit  of  discovering. 

The  species  of  fossil  fish  number  about  tv^^o  thousand.  They 
have  grown  to  this  number  under  the  hand  ef  Prof.  Agassiz. 
The  number  which  Cuvier  had  distinguished  amounted  to  only 
ninety-two. 

The  depth  of  British  strata  investigated  and  found  to  be 
fossiliferous  w^as  estimated,  in  1840,  at  six  and  a  half  miles. 
Prof.  Rogers,  of  Pennsylvania,  estimated  the  American  strata  be- 
low the  coal  as  of  much  greater  thickness  than  the  European. 

Many  important  questions,  which  have  arisen  during  the 
course  of  these  investigations,  have  been  successfully  solved. 
Among  these  no  single  one  was  attended  with  greater  difficulty 
than  that  of  determining  the  equivalence  of  the  strata  of  differ- 
ent regions,  a  work  which  required  the  most  careful  examination 
of  the  fossil  remains  of  distant  formations.  The  identity  of  the 
compact  marbles  of  Italy  and  Greece,  with  the  loose  limestones 
which  form  the  Oolitic  series  of  England,  was  pointed  out  by 
Br.  Buckland,  in  1820,  and  his  view  has  since  been  fully  con- 
firmed. The  determination  of  hundreds  of  shells  by  most  skilful 
conchologists  was  requisite  to  decide  the  position  of  some  of  the 
calcareous  beds  of  Germany  as  compared  with  the  formations 
of  Great  Britain. 

More  recently,  however,  this  effort  has  been  so  far  extended 
that  the  general  system  of  the  rocks  is  now  universally  agreed 
upon,  and  is  understood  over  the  whole  of  Europe,  and  of  east- 
ern North  America.  In  more  distant  countries,  however,  the 
equivalence  of  strata  with  those  already  known  is  more  doubt- 
ful, though  investigation  is  rapidly  enlarging  our  knowledge  in 
every  direction.  Humboldt  has  labored  to  extend  the  doctrine 
of  geological  equivalence,  as  shown  in  the  rocks  of  Europe,  to 
those  of  the  Andes. 

The  equivalence  of  the  strata  of  New  York  with  those  of  Eu- 
rope and  northern   Asia  was  determined,  in  1846,  by  M.  de 


116  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Verneuil,  wlio  determined  the  fact  that  no  country  offers  so 
complete  and  uninterrupted  a  development  of  the  Devonian  sys- 
tem as  this  State. 

Geological  science  has  been  greatly  indebted  for  its  progress 
to  the  accurate  surveys  which  various  governments  have  ordered. 
The  surveys  of  the  European  coast,  undertaken  for  military  and 
commercial  purposes,  have  furnished  opportunity  of  geological 
observation  also.  Extended  geological  investigations  have  been 
accomplished  of  all  the  more  important  European  countries. 

American  geology  has  been  greatly  indebted  to  the  same  aid. 
The  several  States  have  almost  universally  instituted  surveys  for 
economical  as  well  as  scientific  purposes.  Among  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  these  are  those  of  Massachusetts,  which  were  made, 
in  1833,  by  Prof.  Hitchcock,  and  New  York,  which  were  under- 
taken, in  1836,  by  several  gentlemen  of  scientific  distinction, 
and  contemplated  a  general  survey  of  the  Natural  History  of 
the  State. 

The  United  States  Government  has  had  geological  surveys 
made  of  some  extended  regions  of  the  interior  of  the  country ; 
and  the  Exploring  Expedition,  under  Captain  Wilkes,  has  made 
a  most  valuable  contribution  to  science  in  this  branch,  in  the 
work  of  Professor  Dana. 

There  are  in  every  department  of  geology  questions  of  great  in- 
terest awaiting  their  solution.  M.  de  Beaumont  has  suggested 
a  theory  of  the  contemporaneous  elevation  of  parallel  mountain- 
chains,  which  has  attracted  much  attention.  More  recently,  a 
different  view  has  been  taken,  which  attributes  them  to  the  con- 
traction of  the  earth's  crust. 

Among  the  more  interesting  points  which  are  regarded  as 
settled,  may  be  mentioned  the  very  recent  appearance  of  man 
upon  the  globe,  and  the  termination  of  creation  with  the  forma- 
tion of  man,  as  no  single  species  can  be  shown  to  have  origina- 
ted since  this  modern  period. 

The  highest  authorities  agree  in  denying  the  possibility  of  the 


AND    REGISTER.  117 

transmutation  of  lower  into  higher  forms  of  organic  Hfe,  and 
generally  in  aflSrming  the  diffusion  of  each  species  from  a  single 
point  throughout  its  whole  range. 

Two  theories  at  present  divide  the  geological  world,  in  respect 
to  the  method  and  the  agencies  by  which  the  earth's  changes 
have  been  produced.  One  view  attributes  the  phenomena  to 
the  violent  action  of  causes  not  now  equally  influential ;  the 
other,  represented  by  Lyell,  to  the  long-continued  action  of 
causes  such  as  those  which  are  now  raising  the  Scandinavian 
peninsula.  Facts  at  present  are  not  sufficiently  numerous  to 
authorize  any  confident  conclusion. 


SECTION"  XII. 

BOTANY. 

The  principal  fact  which  has  characterized  the  history  of 
Botany  during  the  present  century,  is  the  acceptance  of  the  natu- 
ral system  of  arrangement.  Previously,  the  prevailing  method 
was  that  of  Linnaeus,  to  whom  all  departments  of  natural  his- 
tory owed  very  great  obligations  for  the  specific  names — the 
precision  of  language — and  the  comprehensive  method  which 
he  introduced  into  them.  His  system  was  founded  upon  the 
number  and  position  of  the  reproductive  organs  of  plants,  and 
introduced  an  arrangement  which  was  highly  convenient  for 
reference,  but  altogether  artificial. 

Botanists  still  looked,  therefore,  for  some  system  which  should 
group  plants  not  merely  according  to  a  given  number  of  stamens, 
but  in  harmony  with  the  higher  affinities  which  prevail  in  na- 
ture.    Such  a  system  was  proposed  by  De  Jussieu,  in  1789. 

The  principle  of  this  system  is  the  estimation  of  organs  ac- 
cording to  their  importance.  We  observe  some  groups  in  which 
certain  organs  are  constantly  present ;  and  finding  that  the  or- 


118  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

gans  which  are  constant  in  one  family  are  constant  also  in  the 
others,  these  are  assumed  as  of  higher  consequence  than  more 
variable  organs.  Arranging  upon  this  principle,  we  reacli  a 
classification  identical  with  the  natural  relations  in  which  plants 
stand  to  each  other.  An  illustration  of  this  process,  and  of  its 
"Yesults,  is  afforded  by  the  distinction  adopted  in  all  the  natural 
systems  between  Monocotyledonous  and  Dicotyledonous  plants. 
In  the  former  it  is  found  that  the  wood  is  developed  toward  the 
inside,  in  the  latter,  upon  the  outside  of  the  tree.  The  dis- 
tinction corresponds,  therefore,  to  a  grand  fact  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  plant. 

This  system  was  yet  farther  developed  by  a  Swiss  botanist, 
De  Candolle,  who  showed  that  this  method  affords  a  guide  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  properties  of  medicinal  plants. 

It  has  since  been  widely  adopted,  and  is  at  present  the  fun- 
damental principle  of  botany. 

The  science  has  extended  with  every  year,  till  it  embraces  a 
vast  number  of  species.  Exploration  in  every  part  of  the  globe 
has  been,  and  still  is,  adding  to  the  catalogue.  Some  idea  of 
its  growth  may  be  formed,  from  the  statement,  that  a  century 
since,  Linnaeus  enumerated  7,300  species,  which  were  increased 
in  his  second  edition  to  8,800.  In  1808,  the  number  had 
reached  30,000  ;  in  1830  it  was  more  than  50,000  ;  and  in 
1850  they  amounted  to  not  less  than  120,000. 

The  floras  of  Europe,  together  with  those  of  many  distant 
portions  of  the  earth,  were  undergoing  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century  careful  examination.  This  has  been  continued  till 
beautiful  and  extensive  works  have  been  published,  describing 
and  picturing  the  whole  body  of  European,  and  a  vast  number 
of  foreign  plants.  Brown  brought  to  England,  in  1805,  as 
many  as  4,000  species  of  Australian  plants.  Humboldt  dis- 
covered a  vast  number  in  Mexico  and  Peru.  Brazil  has  been 
examined   by  many  naturalists — the  East  and  West  Indies — 


AND    REGISTER.  119 

Bengal,  Sumatra,  Java,  Abyssinia,  China — all  have  been  sub- 
jected to  repeated  inspection  by  eminent  and  laborious  men. 

By  means  of  this  extended  investigation,  botanists  have  been 
able  to  divide  the  surface  of  the  earth  into  a  number  of  dis- 
tricts, which  show  with  some  accuracy,  the  general  distribution 
of  plants.  De  Candolle  established  20  botanical  regions,  which. 
Martins,  of  Munich,  has  extended  to  51  ;  of  these,  5  are  in  Eu- 
rope, 11  in  Africa,  13  in  Asia,  3  in  New  Holland,  4  in  North, 
and  8  in  South  America,  besides  a  number  more  limited  in 
extent.  Humboldt  gives  the  following  view  of  the  distribution 
of  plants,  both  as  to  height  and  latitude : 

The  equatorial  zone  is  the  region  of  palms  and  bananas. 

The  tropical,  of  tree-ferns  and  figs. 

The  subtropical,  of  myrtles  and  laurels. 

The  warm  temperate,  of  evergreen  trees. 

The  cold  temperate,  of  deciduous  trees. 

The  subarctic,  of  pines. 

The  arctic,  of  rhododendrons. 

The  polar,  of  alpine  plants. 

The  three  great  classes  of  plants  are,  the  cryptogamia,  fungi, 
mosses,  &c.,  whose  flowers  are  invisible,  and  which  are  the 
lowest  in  organization  ;  the  monocotyledonous,  as  grasses  and 
ferns,  and  the  dicotyledonous^  or  flowering  plants — the  most  nu- 
merous, and  the  highest  in  organization.  The  first  class  char- 
acterizes the  vegetation  of  high  latitudes  ;  the  second  flourishes 
in  the  tropical  regions  ;  while  the  third  has  its  chief  develop- 
ment in  the  temperate  zones. 

The  flora  of  tropical  America  is  the  richest  of  the  world ; 
Europe  has  about  half  the  number  of  species  ;  Asia  less  than 
Europe ;  Australia,  still  less ;  and  Africa,  fewer  vegetable  pro- 
ductions than  any  equal  area  of  the  globe.  Wherever  the 
species  of  plants  are  generally  identical  in  different  countries,  it 
is  proved  by  Prof.  E.  Forbes  that  the  regions  were  once  con- 
nected.    The  agents  of  the  difi^usion  of  plants  are  currents  of 


120  CIirvISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

water,  winds,  birds,  quadrupeds,  and  man.  The  cryptogamia, 
whose  minute  seeds,  sometimes  invisible,  are  transported  by  the 
•winds,  enjoy  the  widest  diffusion,  while  very  few  dicotyledonous 
plants  are  common  to  two  distant  countries,  and  in  many  in- 
stances their  diffusion  can  be  traced  with  the  highest  probability 
to  the  causes  above  mentioned. 


SECTION  xni. 

ZOOLOGY. 

The  progress  of  Zoology  within  the  present  century  is  mainly 
due  to  the  grand  impulse  given  by  Cuvier.  Previously  the 
general  system  of  Linnaeus  was  adopted,  which  failed  to  dis- 
tinguish a  natural  order.  The  great  epoch  is  the  appearance  of 
the  Regne  Animal^  or  Animal  Kingdom  of  Cuvier,  in  181Y. 
Since  that  period  naturalists  have  felt  themselves  in  the  true 
path  of  nature,  in  treading  in  the  steps  which  his  genius  indi- 
cated. 

Lamarck  divided  all  animals  into  vertebrate  and  invertebrate, 
the  general  analogies  of  the  former  class  being  sufficiently  obvi- 
ous. But  the  latter  it  was  reserved  for  Cuvier  to  illustrate. 
He  separated  early  this  class  into  several,  instead  of  dividing 
them,  as  Linnaeus  had  done,  into  two, — insects  and  worms.  In 
1801,  Cuvier  distinguished  a  class  of  the  latter,  which  have  red 
blood,  and  finally,  in  1812,  he  distributed  the  invertebrates  into 
three  classes,  each  co-ordinate  to  the  branch  formed  by  the  ver- 
tebrata.     This  classification  marks  them  : — 

The  Vertebrata — Characterized  by  a  spine  and  skull,  with 
lateral  appendages,  which  enclose  the  viscera  and  support  the 
muscles. 

The  Mollusca — With  muscles  attached  to  the  skin,  and  no 
bony  skeletons,  embracing  shell-fish,  cuttle-fish,  &c. 

The  Articulata — Consisting  of  insects,  lobsters,  &c.,  charac- 


AND    REGISTER.  121 

terized  by  a  head  and  a  number  of  successive  portions  of  the  body 
jointed  together. 

The  Radiata — Comprising  the  zoophytes,  in  which  the  mem- 
bers radiate  from  a  central  axis.  This  system  was  fully  devel- 
oped, in  1817,  in  the  "Regne  Animal,"  and  has  since  been  uni- 
versally adopted. 

The  animals  being  thus  reduced  to  four  general  types,  natu- 
ralists have,  in  some  instances,  sought  to  simplify  the  result  and 
bring  all  animals  of  each  class  to  a  single  type.  Such  views, 
however,  have  hitherto  failed  to  secure  any  general  concurrence, 
and  Cuvier  to  the  last  resisted  the  attempt.  Prof.  Oken,  in 
180*7,  labored  to  resolve  the  skull  into  vertebrae,  and  with  some 
success,  for  many  naturalists  adopted  and  carried  out  his  views, 
and  both  Cuvier  and  Owen  countenanced  the  effort.  It  is  sup- 
posed by  Whewell  to  have  been  fully  acquiesced  in  by  the  best 
physiologists ;  but  it  has  recently  been  very  vigorously  attacked 
by  Hugh  Miller,  and  on  grounds  which,  if  they  are  not  decisive 
against  the  theory,  bring  up  the  question  at  least  for  renewed 
discussion. 

Vertehrata. — The  different  classes  of  this  grand  division  have 
been  very  largely  investigated,  and  the  number  has  greatly  in- 
creased in  every  department. 

Among  the  mammaha,  the  300  species  of  Buflfon  had  grown, 
inl826,  to  YOO,  as  estimated  by  M.  Desmarets.  We  have  now  207 
described  by  Bachman,  in  North  America  alone.  Africa,  India, 
and  South  America  are  constantly  sending  us  new  ones.  In 
their  distribution  the  quadrupeds  of  the  southern  extremities  of 
the  continents  differ  far  more  widely  from  each  other  than  those 
of  the  northern ;  while  the  Polar  animals  of  all  the  continents 
are  identical  in  species. 

There  are  480  species  of  mammalia  pecuhar  to  the  American 
continent,  scarcely  one  of  which  is  capable  of  easy  and  useful 
domestication.  Asia  has  288,  among  which  occur  almost  all  the 
domesticated  animals. 

6 


122  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

Herpetology. — The  Reptiles  have  been  clistinguislied  into  four 
conspicuous  natural  groups.  Their  numbers  are  far  greater  as 
we  approach  the  tropics,  and  they  form  a  principal  characteristic 
of  the  American  continent.  Their  range  is  generally  limited, 
and  the  species  are  not  numerous. 

Oriiithology. — In  ornithology,  the  extreme  beauty  and  very 
wide  range  of  many  species  have  made  them  the  subjects  of 
much  study.  Six  natural  orders  are  easily  discriminated. 
Many  naturalists,  as  Vaillant  in  Africa,  and  Temminck  in  South 
America,  have,  with  great  assiduity,  penetrated  the  wildest  and 
least  accessible  regions  to  observe  the  species  of  these  lands. 
The  ornithology,  too,  of  Europe  and  North  America  has  been 
elucidated  by  names  too  familiar  to  require  any  mention. 

The  wide  range  of  many  birds  is  interesting  as  throwing  light 
upon  the  general  problem  of  the  distribution  of  animals.  It  is 
found  that  the  species  of  birds  which,  for  the  purpose  of  rearing 
their  young,  annually  visit  the  Polar  regions,  where  the  different 
continents  approach  each  other,  are  identical  in  Europe,  Asia, 
and  America.  Of  the  others,  which  are  confined  to  lower  lat- 
itudes, none  are  identical  on  opposite  sides  of  the  ocean. 

Great  attention  has  been  given  to  the  anatomy  of  the  vocal 
organs,  so  remarkable  in  this  class. 

The  number  of  ascertained  species  is  about  6000. 

Ichthyology. — In  ichthyology  materials  had  accumulated 
greatly  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  Bloch,  in  a  great 
work  on  the  plan  of  Linnaeus,  attempted  to  systematize  them. 
He  was  unsuccessful,  however,  in  his  arrangement,  and  Cuvier 
was  the  first  to  indicate  a  philosophical  path  in  this  department. 
His  grand  distinction  is  taken  from  the  character  of  the  skel- 
eton, and  he  makes  two  classes,  the  bony  or  osseous,  and  the 
cartilaginous  fish.  The  characteristics  of  the  orders  have  been 
taken  from  the  jaws,  gills,  and  fins. 

This  classification  was  in  part  rejected  by  M,  Agassiz,  who, 
in  forming  a  new  system,  founded  the  distinctions  of  it  upon  the 


AND    REGISTER.  123 

scales  alone,  and  made  four  orders,  not  coincident  with  any 
previous  division.  This  system  has  peculiar  advantages  in 
geology,  as  in  many  insttinces  only  the  bony  scales  have  been 
preserved. 

It  enables  us  to  assert  general  propositions  of  a  very  striking 
kind,  such,  for  instance,  as  that  only  the  two  first  are  found 
geologically  below  the  chalk,  and  has,  for  geological  purposes, 
very  great  merit.  It  was  at  first  doubted  whether  this  was  a 
true  natural  method,  but  naturalists  very  generally  adopt  at 
present  some,  at  least,  of  the  distinctions  which  belong  to  it,  and 
appreciate  the  system  very  highly. 

The  number  of  species  of  fish  is  certainly  increasing  with  the 
investigation  of  distant  seas.  The  European  species  number 
about  650,  of  which  210  are  fresh-water  species,  and  the  re^ 
mainder  marine — 60  of  these  go  up  the  rivers  to  spawn. 

Some  remarkable  peculiarities  have  been  ascertained  in  re- 
spect to  the  depth  at  which  they  live  ;  and  several  distinct  zones 
of  depth  are  now  discriminated,  each  having  its  own  class  of 
fish.  Their  distribution  is  hmited  ;  most  large  lakes  have  pecu- 
liar species  :  and  many  tropical  rivers.  The  different  continents 
and  oceans  possess  species  entirely  distinct ;  and  the  rivers 
and  lakes  of  remote  regions  rarely  possess  the  same. 

The  species  already  ascertained  amount  to  about  ten  thou- 
sand. 

Mollusca. — The  class  of  mollusca  have  undergone  very  care- 
ful and  extended  examination  during  the  present  century.  The 
attention  bestowed  upon  this  class  arises  not  so  much  from 
their  inherent  beauty  or  interest,  as  from  the  abundance  of  their 
fossil  remains,  and  the  value  of  their  shells  in  determining  the 
••elative  ages  of  the  strata  in  which  they  occur. 

The  divisions  of  Linnaeus  in  this  department  were  few  and 
imperfect,  and  his  genera  were  subsequently  greatly  subdivided 
and  increased  in  number,  by  Lamarck.  More  recently  the  sys- 
tem itself  has  been  greatly  changed.     The  shell,  or  external 


124  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

skeleton  is  no  longer  made  the  basis  of  classification,  since  it 
was  fo'..ind  that  this  principle  classed  together  animals  whose 
structure  and  habits  were  entirely  distinct.  The  organization 
of  the  animal  itself  furnishes  now  the  basis  of  a  system  which 
bears  the  mark  of  Cuvier's  master  hand. 

The  existing  species  numbered  about  6,000  in  1840,  and 
more  are  continually  coming  to  light. 

Radiata. — The  remaining  branch  of  zoology,  the  radiata,  has 
been  perhaps  less  investigated  than  either  of  the  others.  Re- 
cently, however,  it  has  begun  to  receive  more  attention.  The 
corals  have  been  arranged  anew  by  Prof.  Dana,  of  the  United 
States  Exploring  Expedition,  in  his  Report,  and  a  vast  number 
of  new  species  added,  many  more  indeed  than  were  previously 
known.  M.  Agassiz,  too,  is  engaged  in  an  investigation  of 
them  in  our  Atlantic  waters,  and  on  the  Florida  coast. 

Articulata. — Tliis  branch  of  natural  history  has  been  greatly 
indebted  to  Cuvier's  arrangement,  which  was  subsequently  carried 
out  by  several  naturalists  of  distinction.  Latreille  developed  an 
admirable  natural  system,  in  which  the  group  is  separated  into 
the  three  great  families  of  Crustacea,  arachnides,  and  insecta. 

Anatomical  investigation  has  alone  rendered  this  division 
practicable ;  and  it  is  incredible  to  what  an  extent  this  branch 
of  study  has  been  carried.  The  anatomy  of  a  single  caterpillar 
occupied  Lyonnet  ten  years  ;  and  Strauss  ascertained  494  mus- 
cles, 24  pair  of  nerves,  and  300  pieces  of  the  outer  envelope, 
in  a  cockchafer,  of  an  inch  in  length.  Cuvier  stated  that,  in 
1827,  naturalists  were  already  becoming  frightened  at  the  vast 
number  of  species  in  entomology.  They  numbered  then 
50,000,  and  some  thirty  years  were  thought  requisite  for  a  mi- 
nute acquaintance  with  even  their  external  forms.  Now  the 
number  is  raised  to  300,000, — by  fer  the  largest  in  any  depart- 
ment of  science,  and  it  is  impossible  to  tell  where  the  increase 
will  end. 

It  will  be  perceived,  from  the  brief  sketch  that  we  have  pre- 


AND    REGISTER.  125 

sentccl,  that  scientific  investigation  has  been  active  and  earnest 
in  eveiy  year  of  the  half-centurj  just  past.  Philosophical  knowl- 
edge has  advanced  in  every  direction,  and  in  many  branches  in 
directions  previously  inconceivable.  Amid  movements  so  ex- 
tended and  so  peculiar,  it  must  be  a  question  of  deep  interest  to 
the  Christian  :  "  How  is  all  this  accumulation  of  knowledge  to 
bear  upon  the  religious  faith  of  the  world  V  To  this,  it  is  be- 
heved,  an  answer  may  be  given  more  favorable  and  with  greater 
confidence  than  in  respect  to  any  similar  development  in  previ- 
ous ages.  Vast  as  the  body  of  science  now  is,  it  is  in  almost 
every  great  department  thoroughly  Christian  in  its  radical  prin- 
ciples, and  in  the  sincerest  and  deepest  convictions  of  those  by 
whose  labors  it  has  been  formed.  There  is  no  greater  name,  and 
there  are  no  higher  achievements  in  modern  science,  than  those 
of  Cuvier ;  and  his  highest  efforts  were  made  under  the  control 
and  by  the  inspiration  of  a  belief  in  an  intelligent  and  beneficent 
God.  The  principle  of  all  his  astonishing  restorations  was,  that 
each  peculiarity  of  an  animal  form  was  designed  to  subserve  an 
end  to  enable  it  to  fulfil  what  he  designated  as  "  the  conditions 
of  its  existence :"  and  for  the  scientific  validity  and  value  of  this 
principle  he  strenuously  contended  against  the  opposing  school  of 
St.  Hilaire,  who  refused  to  allow  the  principle  of  final  causes.  His 
achievements  have  vindicated  his  method,  and  shown  that  the 
belief  of  an  all-wise  Author  of  Nature  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all 
sound  scientific  investigation. 

The  eminent  leaders  of  science  in  other  lands  have  shared 
this  belief,  and  no  highly  distinguished  name  among  the  stu- 
dents of  nature  seeks  now  to  place  Science  in  conflict  with  Rev- 
elation. The  vast  array  of  facts  and  laws  which  make  up  science 
as  it  is,  Christianity  has  already  so  far  assimilated  to  itself,  that  no 
apprehension  is  now  felt  in  respect  to  the  issue  of  any  debated 
questions  in  their  bearing  upon  either  the  Evangelical  or  the 
Mosaic  history.  Nay,  many  among  the  most  ardent  and  con- 
spicuous cultivators  of  science  count  it  among  their  highest  du- 
ties and  delights  to  reconcile  all  apparently  conflicting  develop- 


126  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

inents  of  Science  and  of  Faitli,  and  pursue  their  investigations 
to  promote  at  once  the  happiness  of  man  and  the  glory  of  God. 
Starting  from  such  principles  and  moving  for  such  ends,  sci- 
ence could  not  fail  to  create  results  of  the  highest  interest  and 
moment  in  practical  life,  and  these,  it  will  be  our  endeavor  to 
sketch,  in  the  next  two  or  three  chapters. 

SECTION  XIV. 

MORAL   ASPECTS    OF    SCIENCE. 

The  history  of  science  presents  an  aspect  towards  religious 
truth  which  contrasts  very  strongly  with  that  which  it  wore  in 
the  last  century.  Much  that  was  most  eminent  in  the  science 
of  that  age  presented  itself  in  the  attitude  of  open  hostility  to 
Revelation.  "Astronomical  records  have  been  fabricated  or 
misrepresented,"  says  a  writer,*  at  the  beginning  of  this  century, 
"for  the  purpose  of  discrediting  the  sacred  chronology;  the 
natural  history  of  the  earth  and  man  investigated  to  disprove 
the  Scripture ;  Chemistry,  to  find  Materialism  and  deny  a  first 
cause ;  and  Moral  and  Political  Philosophy  to  strike  at  evan- 
gelical truth."  It  was  characterized,  not  exclusively  indeed,  but 
in  very  great  part  as  "  an  age  of  infidel  Philosophy." 

The  more  complete  and  scientific  form  which  knowledge  has 
taken,  in  our  day,  has  totally  reversed  the  character  of  science 
in  this  respect.  More  extended  investigation  has  harmonized 
many  seeming  discrepancies,  and  science  in  every  branch  prof- 
fers support  to  the  Gospel  in  its  relations  to  nature  and  history. 
The  materialism  of  former  days  has  given  place  to  a  more  spir- 
itual philosophy,  and  atheism  and  infidelity  find,  when  undis- 
guised, few  reputable  advocates.  Ethnology  and  ethnography, 
the  natural  history  of  the  human  race  and  of  human  language, 
already  indicate  the  original  connection  of  all  the  languages, 

*  Dr.  Miller,  in  his  Retrospect. 


AND    REGISTER.  127 

and  the  original  unity  of  all  the  varieties  of  mankind.  Moral 
sentiment  assumes  a  far  higher  place  in  the  philosophical  spec- 
ulations which  are  current  with  the  present  generation. 

Geology, — the  most  comprehensive  of  all  the  modern  sciences, 
and  also  perhaps  the  most  popular,  which,  in  the  crude  state  in 
which  it  was  a  century  ago,  offered  many  objections  to  the 
Bible,  has  decided  many  such  questions  in  favor  of  revealed 
truth, — has  been  carried  to  its  present  height  by  names  as  em- 
inent for  their  Christian  faith  as.  for  their  scientific  attainments, 
— and  interests  some  of  its  most  ardent  votaries  in  efforts  to 
establish  a  yet  more  complete  harmony  with  the  Word  of  God. 
Even  the  scientific  speculations,  which  are  hostile  to  Scripture, 
are  seldom  presented  as  such.  The  hold  which  the  Bible  has 
at  length  gained  upon  the  mass  of  each  great  class  of  society 
forbids  such  writers  to  indulge  the  hope  of  any  speedy  accept- 
ance of  views  which  are  seen  to  be  at  variance  with  it. 

Such  an  achievement  as  this  Christianity  has  never  before 
accomplished  in  this  field.  The  body  of  science  has  already  be- 
come very  vast.  Many  conclusions  are  firmly  established,  and 
many  minds  in  the  most  distant  moral  conditions  are  ceaselessly 
philosophizing  on  the  facts  thus  ascertained.  The  thorough 
Christianizing  of  such  a  development  of  human  thought,  ex- 
tending over  the  whole  field  of  man  and  nature,  is  wonderful. 
Much  remains  yet  to  be  accomplished ;  but  Christians  can  ap- 
proach the  task,  however  great  it  may  be,  or  may  become,  with 
the  confidence  derived  from  numberless  victories  in  the  same 
field.  The  promise  is  as  hopeful  for  the  future  as  the  progress 
has  been  great  in  the  past.  From  this  progress  there  is  reason 
to  hope  that  all  real  truth  shall  yet  vindicate  and  sustain  Divine 
Truth ;  that  all  the  science  and  the  wisdom  of  the  world  shall 
do  homage  to  the  infinite  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God,  and 
that  all  the  benevolence  and  humanity  of  society  shall  acknowl- 
edge their  obligations  to  that  love  of  God  in  the  Gospel,  which 
is  their  only  efficient  source. 


CHAPTER  YL 

APPLIED    SCIENCE. 
SECTION  I. 

MEDICINE. 

In  none  of  the  practical  applications  of  science  have  greater 
improvements  been  effected  in  the  course  of  the  period  under 
review  than  in  Medicine.  Until  the  concluding  years  of  the 
last  century  medicine  was  disfigured  by  theories  of  a  kind  alto- 
gether unscientific,  which  referred  the  phenomena  of  life  and 
disease  to  "  animal  spirits,"  "  humors,"  &c.  This  tendency  gave 
place  to  a  more  just  system  of  observation  and  reasoning  in 
which  many  eminent  minds  participated,  among  whom  Cullen 
and  Hunter  were  particularly  distinguished. 

Chemistry  has  wrought  important  changes  in-  medical  prac- 
tice ;  it  has  enabled  the  physician  to  obtain  the  active  principle 
of  a  vegetable  substance  in  a  more  condensed  form — an  eflect 
exemplified  in  morphine,  quinine,  and  strychnine,  &c.  Metallic 
preparations,  too,  are  now  obtained  with  far  more  ease  and  cer- 
tainty ;  and  the  recent  methods  enable  us  to  combine  them 
■without  impairing,  and  even  so  as  to  increase,  their  activity. 
Iodine  was  discovered  in  1813,  and  bromine  in  1826,  and  both 
were  brought  into  use  in  France. 

To  Liebig  and  the  German  chemists  we  are  indebted  for  much 
valuable  information  in  respect  to  the  changes  which  take  place 
in   the  blood  and   air  in   many  important  vital  actions,  such 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER.  129 

as  the  change  of  venous  into  arterial  blood,  the  phenomena  of 
respiration,  the  maintenance  of  heat,  &c. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  distinct  improvements  of  this 
era,  is  the  elucidation  of  those  fundamental  questions  in  Physi- 
ology relating  to  the  theory  of  disease,  which  has  been  furnished 
by  investigating  the  causes  of  sudden  death.  The  first  clear 
and  precise  information  on  these  points  is  due  to  the  labors  of 
Bichat.  He  referred  all  the  causes  of  death  to  the  brain,  the 
lungs,  and  the  heart, — designating  these  organs  as  the  Tripod 
of  life.  Though  it  is  seldom  in  disease  that  life  ceases  in  so 
simple  a  manner  as  in  the  instances  of  violent  death,  yet  the 
scientific  treatment  of  disease  has  owed  much  to  the  clear  ideas 
thus  obtained  in  Pathology.  It  is  now  fully  understood,  that 
all  causes  of  sudden  death  act  by  arresting  the  flow  of  arterial 
blood  through  the  system. 

In  physiology  a  host  of  ardent  laborers  have  furnished  most 
important  additions  to  science.  Andral,  Wagner,  and  Jones 
have  investigated  with  success,  the  blood  in  different  states  of 
health  and  disease.  The  vital  action  of  the  heart  has  been  elu- 
cidated by  Hope,  Williams,  and  others  ;  while  the  processes  of 
nutrition,  secretion,  &c.,  have  received  important  illustration  from 
the  experiments  of  Dutrochet.  Much  light  has  been  throw^n 
upon  the  ultimate  structure  of  organic  substances,  particularly 
in  respect  to  the  general  tendency  of  substances  which  are  the 
result  of  vital  action  to  assume  the  form  of  globules,  or  cells. 

In  the  anatomy  of  disease  some  great  improvements  have 
been  effected,  which  have  afforded  materials  for  more  correct 
reasoning  upon  the  nature  of  diseases,  and  given  increased  pre- 
cision to  the  rules  of  medical  practice.  The  investigation  of 
organic  diseases,  or  those  dependent  upon  permanent  alterations 
of  structure,  has  been  fruitful  of  useful  results,  as  the  knowledo-e 
of  their  predisposing  and  exciting  causes  affords  a  means  of 
often  preventing  their  occurrence.  This  remark  is  strikingly 
illustrated  by  the  ingenious  application  of  acoustics  for  deter- 

6* 


130  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

mining  diseases  of  the  chest,  wliich  we  owe  to  Laennec.  He 
originated  auscultation, — a  metiiod  in  which  these  diseases  are 
discriminated  with  great  certainty,  by  means  of  the  sounds  of 
the  organs  of  the  thorax.  This  method,  though  carried  very- 
far  by  the  inventor  of  it,  has  been  greatly  improved  since.  The 
name  of  an  American,  Dr.  Jackson,  of  Boston,  is  honorably  con- 
nected with  perhaps  the  most  important  addition  to  it, — the  dis- 
covery of  one  of  the  earliest  indications  of  consumption. 

Our  own  country  has  furnished  a  number  of  the  observers  to 
whose  labors  the  advance  of  medical  science  has  been  owing. 
Hosack,  Physick,  Dewees,  Chapman,  Horner,  Warren,  have 
contributed  in  an  important  degree  to  its  progress.  The  intro- 
duction of  anaesthetic  agents  into  surgical  operations  took  place 
in  Boston,  in  1846.  The  first  surgical  operation  upon  a  patient 
rendered  thus  insensible  to  pain,  was  performed  by  Dr.  J.  C. 
Warren,  Oct.  17,  1846.  The  discovery  gave  a  great  impulse 
to  investio-ation  in  this  direction,  and  a  new  assent  was  discovered 
by  Simpson,  of  Edinburgh,  in  1847,  to  possess  the  same  property 
of  producing  temporary  insensibility — chloroform.  It  is  now 
generally  adopted  in  such  operations  in  preference  to  the  sul- 
phuric ether  originally  employed.  The  chloroform  is  itself  an 
original  American  discovery,  which  was  brought  into  medical 
use  as  a  diffusible  stimulant,  by  Prof.  Silliman,  of  New  Haven, 
before  its  accurate  determination  by  the  French  chemist,  Dumas, 
in  1835. 

There  have  been  a  number  of  particular  improvements  in 
medical  science  within  this  period,  limited  in  their  scope,  but 
exceedingly  important.  Among  these  is  the  general  acceptance 
of  vaccination,  which,  though  proposed  in  1798,  by  Jenner, 
came  into  general  use  not  till  some  years  later.  Its  universal 
prevalence  has  banished  from  every  well-regulated  community^ 
one  of  the  most  dreadful  of  diseases.  The  United  States  Gov- 
ernment has  widely  disseminated  it  among  the  Indian  tribes  of 
the  continent;  and  American  Missionaries  have  introduced  it 


AND    REGISTER.  131 

successfully  into  the  remote  East  Indies,  at  quite  a  recent 
day. 

Another  of  these  improvements  consists  in  the  new  treatment 
of  Insanity.  This  consists  in  the  substitution  of  uniform  kind- 
ness for  bolts  and  bars — in  moral  restraint  instead  of  stripes  and 
fetters — in  surrounding  the  patient  with  new  and  pleasing  as- 
sociations, &c.  A  great  number  of  important  facts  have  been 
ascertained  which  facilitate  the  cure  of  the  disease  ;  such  as  the 
early  symptoms,  the  distinctions  between  the  different  kinds  of 
insanity,  the  causes  which  induced  it,  <fec.  Under  the  extended 
observation  and  improved  methods  of  the  new  system,  the 
number  of  cures  has  increased  from  30  per  cent.,  which  was 
nearly  the  average  number  at  the  commencement  of  this  cen- 
tury, to  more  than  60,  in  our  best  institutions.  The  very  early 
attention  to  the  disease  promises  yet  happier  results  than  these ; 
as  in  some  instances  82^  per  cent,  of  recent  cases  have  been  re- 
stored to  mental  health. 

The  frequency  of  insanity  is  found  to  bear  a  direct  ratio  to 
the  advancement  of  civilization ;  it  is  always  greater  in  the 
more  cultivated  communities.  While  it  is  in  most  instances  at- 
tributable to  some  form  of  moral  disorder,  of  sin,  the  rehgnous 
sentiment  is  sometimes  closely  connected  with  it ;  a  circumstance 
which  has  led  some  persons  to  believe  that  religion  is  to  be  con- 
sidered a  frequent  cause  of  it.  That  this  view  is  erroneous  is 
evident  from  two  facts :  one,  that  a  legitimate  and  judicious  in- 
fluence of  the  gospel  is  an  essential  means  of  recovery ;  the 
other,  that  M.  Esquirol,  the  highest  French  authority,  referring 
to  its  increased  frequency  after  the  wild  changes  of  their  First 
Eevolution,  says,  "  The  changes  in  our  moral  sentiments  and 
habits  have  produced  more  instances  of  madness  than  all  our 
political  calamities."  The  moral  restraints  of  a  sound  and  effi- 
cient religious  training  has  thus  been  determined  to  constitute 
one  of  the  most  important  preventives  of  insanity,  in  the 
grandest  series  of  experiments  which  society  has  yet  witnessed. 


132  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Medicine  has  owed  its  improvement  to  the  co-operation  of  a 
great  number  of  hxborers  in  many  lands.  France,  Germany- 
Italy,  England,  our  own  country,  each  has  contributed  a  host 
of  writers  and  observers,  whose  united  efiforts  have  amassed  a 
very  great  body  of  facts.  Among  these  the  French  philoso- 
phers are  more  eminent  in  pathology,  in  pharmaceutical  chem- 
istry, and  in  anatomy.  The  Germans  are  chiefly  distinguished 
in  physiology  and  anatomy,  and  more  recently  in  organic  chem- 
istry. The  English,  and  with  them  our  own  physicians,  in 
medical  practice.  There  are  fewer  useless  articles  retained,  and 
more  decision  judgment  and  success  in  the  use  of  remedies,  in 
the  American  and  English  practice  than  among  any  other  class 
of  physicians. 

The  progress  of  medical  science  displays  some  very  gratifying 
results.  We  observe  a  constant  increase  in  the  average  term 
of  human  life,  which  is  attributable  in  great  part  to  such  im- 
provements. The  annual  average  of  deaths,  too,  has  been  con- 
stantly diminishing  for  150  to  200  years.  The  following  table 
will  indicate  briefly  this  result : — 

The  proportion  of  deaths  was  annually, 
In  England,  1690,  as  1  to  33.         In  1848,  as  1  to  47. 
"  France,      1776,  "   1  "  25.  "   1848,  "    1   "  42. 

"  Germany,  1778,  "   1  "  32.  "  1848,  "    1  "  42. 

"  London,    1690,  "   1  "  24.  "  1844,  "   1  «  44. 

«  Paris,         1650,  "   1  "  25.  "  1820,  "    1  "  32. 

The  same  result  is  strikingly  indicated  by  a  recent  statement 
of  Baron  Dupin  made  to  the  French  Academy,  in  respect  to 
the  mortality  of  children  during  the  first  five  years  of  life.  At 
the  end  of  the  XVIIIth  century  only  5,832,  out  of  10,000  sur- 
vived five  years,  on  a  general  average;  whereas, in  1850,  7,292^ 
out  of  even  the  least  favored  classes,  reach  the  sixth  year.  In 
the  first  half  of  the  last  century  only  6,695  out  of  10,000  at- 
tained that  aofe  from  the  more  fortunate  classes. 


AND    REGISTER.  133 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  that  tlie  whole  of  such  improve- 
iiient  is  due  to  the  control  of  active  disease.  On  the  contrary, 
a  large  proportion  of  it  undoubtedly  arises  from  the  improved 
knowledge  of  the  causes  of  disease,  and  the  conditions  of  health  ; 
and  disease  is  thus  prevented  perhaps  as  often  as  it  is  cured. 

Medical  schools  have  contributed  greatly  both  to  the  creation 
and  to  the  diffusion  of  juster  views  in  this  department.  The 
English  institutions  could  scarcely  be  said  to  afford  the  means 
of  a  complete  medical  education,  till  the  establishment  of  the 
London  University,  and  the  King's  College.  In  our  own  country 
such  institutions  have  multiplied  with  great — perhaps  too  great 
rapidit3^  The  one  or  two  which  existed  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  have  increased  to  more  than  thii-ty. 

Medical  publications  have  become  quite  numerous,  and  era- 
body  a  vast  amount  of  facts  and  reasonings  of  high  value. 
Those  of  Paris  are  particularly  distinguished  ;  while  London  is 
excelled  in  this  respect  by  both  Edinburgh  and  Dublin. 

The  history  of  medical  improvement  during  the  period  under 
review  presents  some  striking  moral  lessons.  The  occurrence 
of  the  yellow  fever  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  in  our  nor- 
thern ports,  and  its  dreadful  prevalence  during  the  first  quarter 
of  this  century  in  Spain  ;  the  occurrence  of  the  cholera  in 
1832-4,  and  again  in  1848;  the  diseases  connected  wdth  the 
famine  of  1846-7  in  Ireland,  and  with  the  vast  emigration  that 
was  consequent  upon  it, — all  point  with  very  great  directness 
and  force  to  the  importance  of  the  moral  condition  of  a  people 
to  their  physical  health  and  prosperity.  In  respect  to  the  first- 
named  of  these  diseases,  a  memoir  read  to  the  French  Acad- 
emy, by  Audouard,  presents  a  striking  view  of  the  origin  of  that 
terrible  pestilence.  The  author,  who  had  witnessed  the  last  two 
epidemics  of  yellow  fever  in  Spain,  in  1821,  at  Barcelona  and 
the  Port  du  Passage^  inferred  the  origination  of  this  disorder 
from  the  filth  generated  in  the  holds  of  crowded  slave-ships, 
and  afterwards  subjected  to  the  heat  of  the  sun.     This  sugges* 


134  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

tion  was  made  to  the  authorities  of  those  ports,  in  1824,  and 
the  strict  guard  which  has  since  been  maintained  in  all  the 
ports  of  Spain,  against  vessels  which  had  been  engaged  in  that 
trade,  has  prevented  its  recurrence  there  since  that  date.  In 
twenty-eight  years  previous  this  scourge  had  carried  off  140,000 
of  the  inhabitants,  and  the  single  great  epidemic  of  1800, 
60,000  in  Andalusia  alone.  The  northern  states  of  this  union 
have  been  almost  exempt  from  it  since  the  prohibition  of  the 
slave  trade.  Should  this  view  of  the  subject  be  correct,  how 
terrible  a  retribution  has  this  monstrous  wrong  inflicted  upon 
the  Christian  communities  which  tolerated  and  practised  the 
African  slave  trade  ! 

The  cholera,  too,  in  its  repeated  visits,  gives  new  demonstra- 
tion of  the  physical  importance  and  value  of  sound  morals,  and 
humane  social  arrangements.  It  has  prevailed  in  every  com- 
munity in  exact  proportion  to  the  degradation,  physical  and 
moral,  which  it  found  there.  Wherever  the  ordinary  laws  of 
health  in  respect  to  cleanliness,  diet,  and  exposure  were  seriously 
violated,  there  the  disease  found  victims;  and  wherever  the 
crowded  haunts  of  vice  added  to  these  violations  of  moral  law, 
in  intemperance  and  licentiousness,  there  it  almost  depopulated 
the  locality.  The  errors  and  vices  of  society  show  thus  their 
fatal  influence  upon  social  prosperity  and  welfare.  The  gener- 
ation of  disease  in  depraved  and  degraded  vicinities  afilicts,  with 
something  of  similar  force,  the  more  elevated  neighborhoods 
around,  and  shows  us  how  great  an  interest  the  wealthy  and 
favored  classes  have  in  the  moral  and  social  improvement  of  the 
destitute  and  wretched.  Both  must  prosper,  and  both  must 
suffer  in  sympathy  with  each  other. 

The  woes  of  Ireland  point,  with  equal  distinctness,  to  the 
moral  condition  of  the  people  as  their  most  efficient  cause. 
Doubtless,  oppressive  civil  and  social  arrangements  have  had 
much  influence ;  but  even  these  have  derived  their  power  in 
great  part  from  the  extremely  rapid  multiplication  of  an  igno- 


AND    REGISTER.  135 

rant  and  debased  population,  one  million  of  whom  have  perished 
within  a  few  years.  The  moral  elevation  which  refuses  to  as- 
sume the  responsibilities  of  the  conjugal  and  parental  character 
without  some  adequate  provision  in  prospect — without  some 
home  and  some  assured  support — would  have  saved  Ireland 
from  her  heaviest  sufferings.  On  every  hand  we  are  assured 
by  the  progress  of  events,  that  each  form  of  wrong  and  each 
indulgence  of  human  depravity  works  its  bitter  retribution  of 
suffering  upon  the  offending  people  that  perpetrates  or  connives 
at  it.  Providence  is  more  and  more  displaying  the  importance 
in  all  the  disclosures  of  history  of  man's  moral  nature, — the  ex- 
istence and  the  evil  of  human  depravity — and  the  priceless 
value  of  that  Gospel  which  furnishes  our  only  means  of  combat- 
ing and  subduing  sin,  and  its  indispensable  necessity  to  the 
temporal  as  well  as  the  eternal  benefit  of  mankind. 


SECTION  II. 

AGRICULTURE. 

Agriculture  constitutes  another  prominent  application  of 
the  sciences  so  important  in  medicine.  Both  relate  to  hving 
objects,  and  chemistry  and  physiology,  not  to  speak  of  other 
branches  of  science,  occupy  the  front  rank  among  the  causes 
which  it  is  important  to  understand  in  each. 

Much  thought  had  been  bestowed  by  the  beginning  of  our 
era  upon  the  general  facts  of  agriculture, — principally,  however, 
in  the  way  of  simple  observation.  Very  httle  had  then  been 
done,  or  even  attempted  in  the  investigation  of  causes,  or  even 
of  the  less  obvious  laws  of  agricultural  phenomena. 

Attention  had  been  attracted  to  the  value  of  particular  vari- 
eties of  animals,  as  the  Merino  sheep  and  the  hornless  cow ; 
but  such  varieties  were  few.     Varieties  of  fruits  and  vegetables 


136  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

were  better  known.  Some  analyses  of  woods  and  grains  of 
various  kinds  were  made  early  in  this  century  ;  but  tiie  imper- 
fection of  vegetable  chemistry  rendered  them  necessarily  de- 
fective. The  principles  on  which  plants  are  nourished  were 
almost  unknown,  and  the  practice  of  renovating  soils  by  fal- 
lowing ; — that  is,  by  leaving  the  soil  unoccupied  to  recover 
from  its  exhaustion — was  almost  universal  among  practical  agri- 
culturists. 

One  of  the  earliest  scientific  efforts  for  the  improvement  of 
agriculture  was  made  by  Sir  H,  Davy,  who  delivered  a  course 
of  lectures  annually,  from  1802  to  1812,  before  the  Board  of 
Agriculture.  They  were  published  in  1814,  and  contain  much 
that  is  still  deemed  valuable.  He  investigated  vegetable  chem- 
istry and  physiology,  and  made  some  useful  analyses  of  soils, 
manures,  &c.,  and  also  to  some  extent  of  the  ashes  of  plants. 
The  low  state  of  this  department  of  knowledge  in  the  earlj^  part 
of  this  century  may  be  judged  from  the  fact,  that  this  was  the 
only  work  upon  agricultural  chemistry  which  was  published  in 
England  in  a  period  of  forty  years.  The  importance  of  ammo- 
nia to  the  growth  of  plants  was  at  that  time  unknown,  and 
Davy  speaks  of  its  use  as  probably  efficacious  in  repelling  in- 
sects. The  value  of  nitrogen,  too,  was  not  discovered  till  a  later 
day.  Yet  his  work  contains  many  valuable  records  of  experi- 
ment and  observation,  some  of  which  were  on  quite  an  extended 
scale. 

The  progress  of  chemical  analysis  has  established  a  great  dis- 
tinction between  the  organic  and  the  inorganic  substances  of  which 
all  plants  are  composed.  The  former  are  the  compounds  formed 
by  the  agency  of  living  organs, — the  latter  are  generally  of 
earthy  or  mineral  substances.  The  organic  portion  amounts 
generally  to  from  75  to  99  per  cent,  of  their  whole  weight  in 
the  dry  state.  It  consists  almost  exclusively  of  four  elements 
in  various  states  of  combination, — carbon,  oxygen,  hydrogen, 
and  nitrogen.     Of  living  plants  oxygen  is  found  to  constitute 


AND    REGISTER.  137 

one  half  the  weioht.  In  the  dry  state,  carbon  approaches  one 
half  the  whole  weight;  oxygen  one  third  ;  hydrogen  amounts 
to  20  per  cent. ;  and  nitrogen  to  about  2  per  cent.  The  com- 
binations of  these  elements  in  various  proportions  form  a  very 
numerous  body  of  organic  compounds,  on  the  investigation  of 
which  great  labor  has  been  bestowed.  We  have  already  speci- 
fied these  results  under  the  head  of  chemistry. 

The  great  predominance  in  amount  of  these  organic  substan- 
ces, and  the  very  small  proportion  of  the  incombustible  and 
mineral  elements,  for  a  long  time  led  to  an  erroneous  estimate 
of  the  importance  of  the  latter.  It  was  long  supposed  that  the 
substances  remaining  after  the  organic  portion  of  the  plant  had 
been  burned  away,  were,  doubtless,  derived  from  the  soil  acci- 
dentally, and  were  too  inconsiderable  to  affect  materially  either 
the  growth  or  luxuriance  of  the  plant  itself.  Careful  and  re- 
peated experiments,  however,  showed  that  the  quantity  and  the 
quality  of  this  ash  were  nearly  identical  in  the  same  species  of 
plant,  however  various  the  soil  might  be,  and  that  the  ash  of 
one  species  was  separated  by  a  marked  and  constant  distinction 
of  its  elements  from  that  of  every  other. 

This  view  of  the  constancy  of  the  inorganic  portion  of  plants 
has  shed  new  light  upon  every  branch  of  agriculture.  The  estab- 
lishment of  it  is  due  to  Sprengel.  It  explains  the  relation 
which  subsists  between  the  nature  of  the  crop  and  the  chem- 
ical composition  of  the  soil,  the  manner  in  which  some  crops 
impoverish  land,  and  some  manures  enrich  it,  and  showing 
that  the  plant  is  nourished  in  part  by  these  mineral  substan- 
ces, it  suggests  numerous  and  most  valuable  agricultural  pro- 
cesses. 

This  development  of  the  general  nature  of  the  inorganic  com- 
position of  plants  has  led  to  a  vast  number  of  analyses  of  vegeta- 
ble products.  Each  of  the  cereal  grains  has  been  thus  examined, 
and  its  mineral  elements  ascertained  with  the  nicety  which  re- 
sults from  oft-repeated  and  exact  experiments.     The  grains  of 


138  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

different  soils,  and  of  different  varieties  of  the  various  parts  of 
the  phmt — the  straw,  the  husk,  the  grain — the  wood  of  our 
different  kinds  of  fruit  and  forest  trees — in  all  stages  of  its 
growth  and  from  all  parts  of  the  tree — these  have  been  the  sub- 
jects of  innumerable  analyses.  The  result  has  been  the  discov- 
ery of  the  exact  mineral  composition  of  these  substances,  and  a 
knowledge  of  the  ingredients  which  require  to  be  supplied  to 
the  soil  to  enable  it  to  produce  freely  any  desired  crop.  In 
consequence  of  these  discoveries,  it  is  now  practicable  to  calcu- 
late accurately  the  amount  of  any  mineral  substance  removed 
from  an  acre  of  land  by  any  particular  crop,  and  to  ascertain 
thus  what  kind  and  amount  of  manure  must  be  supplied  to  the 
soil  to  maintain  its  capacity.  Such  at  least  are  the  views  of 
Prof.  Johnson,  though  other  British  authorities  place  by  no 
means  so  high  an  estimate  upon  these  discoveries  of  the  inor- 
ganic constituents  of  plants.  The  mineral  manures,  prepared 
and  patented  by  Liebig,  to  afford  by  slow  decomposition  the 
supply  which  crops  require,  failed  to  answer  the  very  high  ex- 
pectations which  had  been  formed  of  their  value. 

Since  the  discovery  of  the  chemical  constitution  of  plants, 
agricultural  science  has  been  advancing  with  great  rapidity. 
Animal  chemistry,  too,  and  physiology  have  been  brought  into 
striking  and  beautiful  relations  with  agriculture. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  these  is  the  discovery  of  Lie- 
big,  that  the  flesh  of  animals  is  not  formed  in  the  process  of 
digesting  food,  but  exists  antecedently  in  the  food  itself.  The 
albumen,  gluten,  and  casein,  which  chemistry  detects  in  our 
cultivated  grains,  are  identical  in  composition  with  the  principle 
of  the  muscular  fibre. 

The  discovery  of  a  large  proportion  of  nitrogen  in  fibrin  or 
animal  muscle  has  led  to  a  different  appreciation  of  the  articles 
of  food  in  which  this  element  abounds,  and  this  again  has  given 
a  new  value  to  the  various  articles  which  supply  nitrogen  as  a 
manure. 


AND    REGISTER.  %QQ> 

The  progress  of  knowledge  in  this  respect  is  remarkable.  In 
1814,  Davy  pronounced  fallowing  altogether  useless;  but  ex- 
perience confirmed  the  common  belief  of  its  advantage.  Later, 
De  Candolle  supposed  that  the  roots  of  a  plant  might  excrete 
some  substances  injuiious  to  the  same  crop  if  immediately  re- 
peated, but  useful  to  others,  and  that  these  latter  might  prepare 
the  former  again.  This,  however,  is  without  any  support  from 
careful  observation.  It  is  now  ascertained  that  the  ammonia 
of  the  atmosphere  is  brought  down  by  the  rain,  and  absorbed 
by  porous  soils  ;  that  this  is  one  of  the  principal  fertilizers  ;  and 
that  the  benefit  of  this  restorative  process  can,  by  a  judicious 
application  of  our  knowledge  of  the  chemistry  of  plants,  be 
attained  without  the  loss  of  a  single  season. 

Such  investigations  have  been  prosecuted  with  great  interest 
by  several  eminent  chemists,  among  whom  we  may  mention 
Boursingault  and  Payen  in  France,  Mulder  in  Holland,  Liebig 
in  Germany,  and  Johnston,  Kane,  and  Anderson  in  England. 
The  results  of  their  labors  have  been  in  many  instances  of 
marked  value,  and  have  raised  greatly  the  general  average  of 
returns  from  agricultural  labor  in  Europe.  It  is  estimated,  by 
Sir  J.  Sinclair  and  Radcliffe,  that  on  lands  long  cultivated,  and 
now  renovated  by  the  new  agriculture,  the  average  production 
is  as  follows : — 


Wheat. 

Oats. 

Potatoes. 

In  England,  per  acre, 

.     28, 

58, 

350  bushels. 

"   Scotland,       " 

.     32, 

56, 

400       " 

"   Flanders,       " 

.     32, 

52, 

350       « 

The  average  of  American  production  on  old  lands  is  greatly 
inferior.  It  is  estimated  that  in  Duchess  and  Columbia  coun- 
ties of  New  York,  the  corresponding  amounts  are  15  bushels 
of  wheat,  30  of  oats,  and  150  of  potatoes.  A  very  recent  and 
exact  census,  however,  of  Seneca  county,  indicates  a  decided 


140  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

improvement, — tlie  average  of  the  wheat  crop  being  20  bushels 
to  the  acre,  and  the  better  class  of  farms  reaching  25  bushels. 

At  the  present  time  there  is  every  indication  of  most  rapid 
improvement.  The  public  mind  in  Europe  and  America  is  be- 
coming very  fully  alive  to  the  importance  of  Agricultural  Edu- 
cation. Almost  every  European  country  has  established  schools 
of  instruction  in  scientific  and  practical  agriculture.  They 
amount  now  to  22  superior  institutions,  54  intermediary,  and 
14  connected  with  universities,  besides  some  hundreds  of  pri- 
mary schools  devoted  to  this  branch.  Two  of  our  Legislatures 
have  taken  up  the  subject,  and  plans  are  under  consideration  for 
efficient  institutions  in  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  to  be  sup- 
ported by  the  State.  Probably  four  fifths  of  the  European  in- 
stitutions have  come  into  existence  within  the  last  seven  years. 

The  numerous  agricultural  societies  vi^hich  now  exist  have 
dififused  intelligence,  and  awakened  interest  on  this  subject  very 
widely.  The  field  of  science  involved  in  intelligent  agricultural 
labors  is  very  extensive.  Besides  the  chemical  and  physiologi- 
cal investigations  of  which  we  have  spoken,  geology  must  pro- 
nounce upon  the  soil,  physical  geography  upon  the  climate,  and 
natural  history  in  its  various  branches  must  indicate  the  charac- 
ters of  the  plants,  animals,  insects,  &c.,  with  which  agriculture 
has  to  do.  The  subject  has  already  attracted  attention  in  sev- 
eral of  our  institutions  of  learning, — and  when  institutions  of 
high  grade  shall  be  devoted  to  instruction  and  investigation  on 
this  subject,  we  may  hope  for  a  more  general  difl[usion  of  educa- 
tion, and  an  elevation  of  the  agricultural  community,  as  well  as 
a  more  profitable  working  of  the  soil. 

It  is  one  of  the  hopeful  indications  of  our  age,  that  society  is 
becoming  aware  of  the  pecuniary  loss  which  is  inevitably  con- 
nected with  an  ignorant  and  degraded  state  of  the  laboring 
population.  The  value  of  intelligence  and  thought — of  the 
elevated  character  and  sound  morality  which  these  alone  can 
diffuse  through  the  masses  of  a  State,  is  beginning  to  be  deeply 


AND    REGISTER.  141 

felt.  This  public  appreciation  of  the  value  of  education  has  re- 
ceived both  a  new  impulse  and  a  new  direction  from  the  recent 
discoveries  in  agriculture.  The  superiority  of  skilled  and  in- 
structed labor  is  now  widely  acknowledged ;  and  this  fact 
promises  to  awaken  an  interest  in  public  education  in  those 
secluded  rural  districts,  into  which  other  influences  do  not  easily 
penetrate.  The  scientific  aspect  which  practical  agriculture  is 
daily  more  and  more  assuming,  suppHes  a  new  impulse  to  the 
cause  of  education  among  the  class  which  must  ever  be  the 
most  numerous  and  influential,  as  well  as,  perhaps,  the  least  ac- 
cessible in  any  State. 


SECTION  III. 

APPLIED    SCIENCE  *.    TELEGRAPHS. 

Another  of  the  prominent  applications  of  science  is  found  in 
the  modern  system  of  telegraphic  communication.  The  dis- 
covery of  electro-magnetism,  and  the  development  of  a  class  of 
phenomena  which  obviously  were  capable  of  being  used  as 
signals  from  points  somewhat  distant,  created  a  very  general 
interest  in  such  an  application  of  them.  Many  inquirers  were 
soon  engaged  upon  the  problem  thus  set  before  them.  Some 
doubts  however  yet  hung  over  the  subject  at  one  or  two  points. 
It  was  doubtful,  for  instance,  whether  the  phenomena  observed 
in  the  laboratory  could  be  relied  upon  when  the  apparatus 
should  become  very  extended.  This  question  suggested  itself 
to  Barlow,  who  undertook  some  experiments  for  the  purpose'  of 
determining  it.  He  satisfied  himself  that  with  a  length  of  200 
feet  of  wire  in  his  galvanic  circuit,  the  power  was  dissipated  so 
rapidly  as  to  preclude  the  probability  of  using  it  for  telegraphic 
purposes  at  any  distance.  His  account  of  these  experiments  was 
published  in  the  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Journal  for  1825. 

His  conclusions  were  re-examined  by  Prof.  Henry,  now  of 


142  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Washington,  who  succeeded  in  obtaining  an  opposite  result. 
He  announced  in  Silliman's  Journal  for  1831,  that  the  magnetic 
action  of  a  current  is  not  diminished  by  passing  through  a  long 
wire ;  and  that  this  fact  "  is  directly  applicable  to  Mr.  Barlow's 
project  of  forming  a  telegraph,"  &c.  Prof.  H.  also  determined 
that  with  a  long  wire  a  battery  of  a  number  of  plates  was 
necessary  to  give  projectile  force  ;  the  neglect  of  which  had 
probably  occasioned  Barlow's  error. 

These  facts  being  established,  the  ingenuity  of  many  inventive 
minds  was  tasked  to  contrive  some  practical  application  of  them; 
and  the  result  has  been  the  invention  of  several  systems  of 
telegraphing,  which  have  already  come  into  extensive  use. 
Prof.  Morse  was  engaged  in  such  efforts  as  early  as  1832  ;  and 
the  English  system  of  Cooke  and  Wheats  tone  was  formed  not 
long  after. 

Oersted's  experiments  in  electro-magnetism,  disclosed  several 
phenomena  of  that  subject  which  might  be  employed  for  dis- 
tant communications.  The  fact  was  ascertained,  for  instance, 
that  the  passage  of  the  galvanic  current,  through  a  wire  extend- 
ing from  one  to  the  other  of  the  poles  of  a  battery,  deflects  a 
magnetic  needle  placed  near,  and  parallel,  to  it,  into  a  position 
at  right  angles  to  the  wire.  It  was  found  too  that  the  direction 
of  the  poles  of  the  magnetic  needle  is  decided  by  the  direction 
of  the  current  in  the  wire,  and  that  the  north  pole  of  the  magnet 
could  thus  be  made  to  turn  either  to  the  East  or  the  West,  at 
the  will  of  the  operator.  Two  needles  thus  arranged  constitute 
the  indicating  apparatus  of  the  English  telegraph.  An  operator 
controlling  a  galvanic  battery  in  London,  deflects,  by  means  of 
a  wire  extending  to  Edinburgh,  a  needle  at  the  latter  station ; 
and  the  different  combinations  of  two  such  needles  constitute  a 
conventional  alphabet.  To  call  the  attention  of  the  correspon- 
dent at  a  distant  station,  another  application  of  the  same  agent 
is  made  to  ring  a  bell.  The  instrument  however  does  not  form 
any  permanent  record  of  the  messages  transmitted  through  it. 


AND    REGISTER.  143 

In  this  respect  it  is  altogether  inferior  to  the  several  American 
systems,  each  of  which  accomplishes  this  desideratum. 

By  far  the  most  simple  and  practical  system,  however,  is  that 
of  Prof.  Morse.  This  was  perfected  in  1838  and  1839,  and 
brought  into  use  by  aid  of  an  appropriation  from  Congress,  in 
1843.  It  employs  a  different  property  of  the  electro-magnetic 
fluid.  The  passage  of  an  electric  current  through  a  coil  of  wire, 
communicates  magnetism  to  a  piece  of  soft  iron  in  the  center  of 
that  coil, — an  effect  which  instantly  ceases  upon  the  interruption 
of  the  current.  Thus  a  coil  of  wire  in  New  York  properly 
connected  with  a  battery  in  Philadelphia  constitutes  a  piece  of 
iron  placed  within  the  coil,  a  magnet ;  and  causes  it  to  attract  a 
small  bar  of  iron  near  it.  This  latter  is  connected  with  a  lever, 
by  which  as  often  as  the  bar  is  attracted  a  steel  point  is  pressed 
upon  a  strip  of  paper  which  is  moved  past  it  by  machinery  at  a 
regular  rate.  Dots  and  hnes  are  thus  impressed  upon  the  paper 
which  constitute  a  permanent  record  of  the  communication. 

A  modification  of  this  apparatus  has  been  devised  which 
gives  it  great  efficiency.  The  power  derived  from  the  original 
battery,  distant  perhaps  100  miles  from  the  spot  where  the 
communication  is  to  be  recorded,  is  in  great  part  lost  from  the 
imperfect  insulation  of  the  wires  through  which  it  passes ;  and 
the  residue  is  too  weak  to  impress  the  characters  with  suflBcient 
force  upon  the  paper  register.  To  remedy  this  inconvenience 
the  main  battery  is  combined  at  eacb  receiving  station  with 
another,  which  performs  the  work  of  registering.  The  local 
battery  is  worked  by  the  main  battery ;  which  latter  is  confined 
to  the  office  of  closing  and  breaking  a  galvanic  circuit.  This 
requires  only  so  small  an  expenditure  of  power  that  a  single 
main  battery  is  able  to  complete  the  circuits  of  a  great  many 
local  ones,  on  a  long  hne  of  communication,  and  thus  to  record 
the  same  message  in  many  distinct  places  at  a  single  transmission. 
This  valuable  improvement  was  patented  by  Davy,  an  English 
inventor  in  1839.    Though  not  much  employed  in  that  country 


144  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

it  is  very  extensively  used  in  our  own  ;  and  contributes  greatly 
to  the  superior  efficacy  of  the  American  Telegraphs. 

Other  applications  of  the  same  power  have  been  employed  for 
the  same  purpose.  One  of  these  depends  upon  electro-chemical, 
instead  of  electro-magnetic,  agency.  The  electric  current  has 
the  power  of  decomposing  certain  salts.  In  this  system  of  tel- 
egraphing, it  is  caused  to  pass  through  a  fabric  chemically  pre- 
pared in  accordance  with  this  property.  The  decomposition  of 
the  salt,  at  the  precise  point  where  the  current  passes  through 
it,  is  indicated  with  surprising  distinctness,  by  an  instantaneous 
change  of  color.  This  principle,  which  is  that  employed  in 
Bain's  telegraph,  formed  also  a  part  of  Davy's  patent.  The 
beautiful  arrangement  through  which  the  communication  is,  in 
this  system,  recorded  by  the  spiral  movement  of  a  wire  upon  a 
circular  disk,  is  believed  to  be  due  to  Prof.  Mitchell,  of  Cin- 
cinnati. 

One  of  the  most  finished  and  elegant  inventions  for  this  pur- 
pose, is  that  of  House's  printing  telegraph.  In  this,  the  or- 
dinary letters  of  the  alphabet  are  arranged  on  the  circumference 
of  a  Avheel,  to  which  a  very  rapid  motion  is  given,  by  means  of 
condensed  air.  The  electric  agency  interrupts  the  revolution,  at 
the  will  of  the  operator  of  a  distant  station ;  and  the  letter 
which  he  thus  selects  is  instantly  printed,  by  an  ingenious 
oiechanical  arrangement.  The  machinery,  though  extremely 
.ngenious,  is  yet  somewhat  complicated,  and  of  course,  liable  to 
some  derangements.  It  operates,  however,  with  great  celerity, — 
distinctly  printing,  when  working  at  the  maximum  rate,  3,000 
words  an  hour.  It  is  in  use  upon  three  main  lines,  extending 
from  New  York  to  Boston,  Buffalo,  and  Philadelphia.  Other 
lines  are  in  progress  in  numerous  directions  ;  and  among  them 
one  from  New  York  to  St.  Louis. 

The  lines  upon  which  Morse's  instruments  are  used,  extend 
almost  over  the  whole  country,  and  connect  all  the  principal 
towns  of  the  Union.     Their  total  length  is  about  15,000  miles; 


AND    REGISTER.  145 

and  they  extend  without  interruption,  from  Halifax  to  New  Or- 
leans, and  thence  to  Galena,  and  to  New  York  again. 

In  no  other  country  do  telegraphs  reach  the  same  extent,  and 
in  no  other  are  they  in  such  free  and  constant  use.  In  England 
there  are  about  2,000  miles  of  telegraph,  and  the  cost  of  its 
erection  is  stated  to  be  £150  per  mile.  The  cost  of  the  Amer- 
ican lines  is  only  one  fifth  of  this  amount.  The  high  cost,  to- 
gether  with  the  slower  working  of  the  English  system,  which 
does  not  exceed  1,200  words  per  hour,  makes  it  more  expensive 
than  ours.  The  limited  distances,  too,  of  that  country,  the 
rapidity  of  railroad  communication,  and  the  cheapness  and  swift- 
ness of  the  mail,  render  it  less  important  to  them.  One  of  its 
chief  uses,  indeed,  in  England,  is  for  railroad  signals,  which  are 
rendered  necessary  by  the  extreme  speed  at  which  their  express 
trains  travel.  In  many  instances,  an  explicit  provision  is  in- 
serted by  the  government,  in  the  charter  of  a  railroad  company, 
requiring  the  construction  of  a  telegraph  upon  the  line,  for  such 
purposes.  Some  of  those  roads  it  would  be  absolutely  impos- 
sible to  operate  without  it.  The  cost  of  messages  in  England  is 
from  8  to  16  cents  per  word;  the  cost  in  America  is  from  2  to 
10  cents  a  word.  This  maximum  rate  pays  for  the  transmission 
of  messages  from  New  York  to  New  Orleans. 

This  great  cheapness  of  communication  leads  to  a  very  ex- 
tended employment  of  the  telegraph.  Reports  of  the  state  of 
the  market  are  daily  exchanged  between  the  great  cities  and 
the  interior  towns  ;  foreign  news  is  telegraphed,  on  the  arrival 
of  each  steamer,  from  Boston  or  New  York,  to  Washington  and 
New  Orleans  ;  important  proceedings  of  Congress  are  instantly 
despatched  to  every  part  of  the  country.  Such  despatches  are 
generally  paid  for  by  associations  of  the  newspapers  of  each 
city.  In  this  way  the  President's  annual  message  has  been  tel- 
egraphed at  once  to  1*7  distinct  stations,  on  the  line  of  325  miles 
from  New  York  to  Buffalo  ;  and  more  recently,  from  Philadel- 
phia to  St.  Louis  and  Galena — with  only  the  interval  of  half  an 

7 


146  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

hour.  Communications  of  public  interest  are  constantly  traver- 
sing these  extended  wires.  The  exigencies,  too,  which  arise  out 
of  the  commercial  transactions,  and  domestic  relations,  of  indi- 
viduals, require  this  rapid  intercourse  between  distant  points, 
and  afford  constant  occupation  to  several  distinct  lines. 

In  Prussia,  some  1400  miles  of  electric  telegraph  are  in  opera- 
tion. The  wire  is  there  generally  enclosed  in  tubes,  and  buried 
in  the  ground,  some  of  that  portion  which  was  exposed  having 
been  destroyed  by  the  populace  in  the  recent  political  disturb- 
ances. It  is  first  protected  by  a  coat  of  gutta  percha,  which 
affords  the  most  perfect  insulation  of  the  wires  yet  attainable. 
In  England  the  whole  telegraphic  system  of  the  country  is  mo- 
nopohzed  by  a  single  company.  In  America  many  private  com- 
panies are  occupied  in  working  the  various  lines.  On  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe  the  governments  either  retain  the  apparatus 
in  their  own  hands,  or  rigidly  superintend  and  control  its  opera- 
tion. The  statistics  of  European  telegraphs  are  scarcely  acces- 
sible yet  in  this  country.  The  instruments  generally  used  there 
are  those  of  Prof.  Morse. 

The  same  general  system  of  arrangements  has  been  applied 
with  great  success  to  the  determination  of  some  important  sci- 
entific questions.  The  instantaneous  transmission  of  intelligence 
enables  observers  at  two  distant  points  to  communicate  with 
each  other  absolutely  at  the  same  instant ;  and  this  circumstance 
obviously  affords  the  means  of  signalizing  at  distant  points  the 
precise  moment  at  which  any  astronomical  fact  takes  place. 
The  transit  of  a  star  over  the  meridian  at  Boston  can  be  signal- 
ized in  New  York  at  the  very  moment  of  its  occurrence ;  and 
its  subsequent  transit,  a  few  minutes  later,  over  the  meridian  of 
the  latter  place  affords  another  opportunity  of  comparing  the 
two.  By  very  numerous  comparisons  of  tins  kind  the  differ- 
ences of  longitude  of  many  of  our  principal  cities  have  been  de- 
termined with  a  degree  of  accuracy  unattainable  by  any  methods 
previously  known.    The  astronomical  observatories  of  Washing- 


AND    REGISTER.  147 

ton,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Cambridge,  were  connected 
by  telegraphic  arrangements,  and  their  relative  positions  thus 
ascertained,  in  1847  and  1848.  Within  the  two  years  subse- 
quent to  these,  the  same  system  has  been  extended  as  far  as 
Cincinnati  and  Charleston. 

An  astronomical  clock  invented  by  Dr.  Locke,  of  Cincinnati, 
which  acts  upon  the  same  principles  of  electro-magnetisni, 
gives  great  facihty  to  sidereal  observations.  A  telegraphic  com- 
munication being  etfected  between  several  stations,  the  clock 
breaks  and  closes  a  galvanic  circuit  simultaneously  in  them  all. 
The  beats  of  the  clock  can  be  thus  observed  at  all  the  stations, 
and  the  occurrence  of  any  astronomical  event  simultaneously 
recorded.  The  extreme  rapidity  with  which  the  record  can  be 
made,  permits  the  observer  to  register  many  more  observations 
within  the  same  time  than  before.  Prof.  Loomis  considers  the 
value  of  a  year's  labor  with  the  telegraphic  system  of  recording 
to  be  seven-fold  that  of  the  former  method. 

Arrangements  have  also  been  devised  for  regulating  by  simi- 
lar means  the  public  clocks  of  a  city.  Such  a  plan  invented  by 
Mr.  Speed,  of  Detroit,  makes  all  the  public  clocks  mark  the 
hours  with  absolute  uniformity.  By  similar  means  the  clocks  of 
any  number  of  railway  termini  in  a  city,  or  at  distant  stations, 
may  be  brought  to  a  uniform  time  ;  and  a  clock  for  purposes  of 
this  kind  has  been  patented  by  Bain. 

The  period  is  yet  too  short, — seven  years  only  having  elapsed 
since  the  first  successful  telegraph  was  established, — for  any  full 
disclosure  of  the  moral  influence  of  this  strange  and  remarkable 
class  of  phenomena.  It  has  given  a  stimulus  and  a  certainty 
to  commercial  operations,  and  facilitates  and  extends  trade. 
Already  it  serves  as  a  most  important  auxiliary  in  the  administra- 
tion of  justice,  and  in  consequence  of  its  active  and  far-reaching 
agency,  crime  has  fewer  chances  of  escaping  punishment. 

But  the  applications  of  this  power  are  yet  only  in  their  com- 


148  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT   AND    REGISTER. 

mencement.  The  report  of  the  Patent  Office  announces  the 
forthcoming  of  numerous  inventions  which  will  multiply  its 
agency,  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  next  half-century  will 
enrol  r'.ectricity  in  its  various  forms  among  the  active  promoters 
of  the  civilization  and  welfare  of  mankind. 


CHAPTEE    YII. 

PROGRESS  IN  THE  ARTS   OF  INTERCOMMUNICATION, 
SECTION  I. 

STEAM    NAVIGATION. 

The  arts  of  locomotion  have  attained  a  development  which 
seems  as  much  as  any  other  peculiarity  characteristic  of  the 
present  age.  The  first  great  improvement  of  this  kind  was  the 
introduction  of  steamboats. 

At  various  periods  in  the  last  century,  efforts  were  made  to 
apply  the  power  of  this  recently  discovered  agent  to  the  pur- 
poses of  transportation  by  water ;  and  the  names  of  Hull  in 
1131 — Miller,  in  1787— and  Symington,  in  1801 — who  were 
the  chief  English  experimenters,  and  of  Evans,  in  1768 — Fitch, 
in  1784 — and  Rumsey,  in  1785,  equally  distinguished  in 
America,  will  ever  deserve  honorable  mention. 

The  practical  application  of  steam  for  this  purpose  however  it 
was  reserved  for  Fulton  to  achieve ;  and  his  boat,  the  Clermont, 
made  the  first  trip  on  the  waters  of  the  Hudson  in  1807,  since 
which  time  steam  navigation  has  never  ceased.  Though  the 
idea  was  familiar  long  before  his  time,  Fulton  is  undoubtedly 
entitled  to  the  full  credit  of  having  perfectly  accomplished  this 
end,  and  that  too  in  the  face  of  the  general  distrust  and  coii- 
tempt  which  the  failure  of  all  previous  attempts  had  cast  upon 
the  enterprise.  The  first  voyage,  which  was  made  to  Albany  in 
32  hours,  having  demonstrated  the  triumph  of  perseverance  and 


150  CHRISTIAN    EETROSPECT 

skill  over  obstacles  so  long  insurmountable,  Fulton  proceeded  to 
construct  other  boats,  under  a  monopoly  from  the  State  of 
New  York  for  the  navigation  by  steam  of  her  waters.  Improve- 
ments were  rapidly  eflfected  in  the  construction  and  working  of 
these  boats,  until  river  navigation  reached  on  this  original 
theatre  of  its  success  a  point  which  is  perhaps  not  far  below  its 
absolute  climax.  The  boats  of  the  Hudson  have  been  from  the 
first  hour,  the  models  of  such  navigation  on  the  Atlantic  rivers. 
Their  size  and  power  have  constantly  increased  till  they  now 
reach  a  length  of  3*75  feet  with  a  breadth  of  35 ;  and  attain  an 
average  speed  of  18  miles  per  hour,  which  is  capable  of  being 
increased  to  20  or  22  miles.  The  newest  of  these  boats,  the 
New  World,  has  a  cylinder  of  '76  inches  in  diameter  and  fifteen 
feet  stroke  ;  it  is  worked  with  40  lbs.  pressure  in  the  boiler  with 
the  steam  cut  off  at  half  stroke.  The  wheels  are  forty-five  feet 
in  diameter,  and  make  sixteen  revolutions  per  minute.  Accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Lardner's  calculations,  she  may  be  estimated  at  2,640 
horse  power. 

The  new  invention  possessed  a  most  striking  applicability  to 
the  wants  of  the  new  world  in  which  it  originated ;  and  spread 
rapidly  throughout  the  country.  The  Atlantic  streams  were 
soon  alive  with  vessels  ;  and  the  great  lakes  of  the  North  began 
to  be  traversed  by  them.  Ere  long  the  steam  paddle  vexed  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  ;  and  penetrated  into 
the  vast  and  silent  forests  of  the  mighty  West,  at  once  the  pro- 
duct and  the  precursor  of  the  civilization  which  providence  had 
prepared  for  them.  The  first  boat  on  the  Western  waters  was 
built  by  Fulton  at  Pittsburgh,  in  1812.  The  Mississippi  was 
first  navigated  by  steam  in  1815  ;  and  28  days  were  required 
for  the  voyage  from  New  Orleans  to  Cincinnati.  The  iiv^t 
steamboat  on  the  Missouri  was  in  181Y. 

The  aggregate  number  of  steamboats  is  now  estimated  at 
2000,  and  their  aggregate  capacity  at  500,000  tons.  They  have 
pushed  their  way  almost  to  the  remotest  navigable  rivers  of  the 


AND    REGISTER.  151 

continent,  bearing  population  and  commerce  with  tliera.  Since 
the  Mexican  war,  the  Rio  Grande  has  steamboats — since  the 
California  discoveries  the  Lake  Nicaragua  is  provided  with  one, 
for  the  transportation  of  passengers  across  from  ocean  to  ocean. 
They  have  been  recently  introduced  into  South  American 
waters,  from  this  country. 

In  October  1849  the  first  steamboat  began  her  trips  upon  the 
inland  waters  of  California  ;  by  the  close  of  the  next  year  they 
numbered  47 — varying  from  20  to  800  tons  each. 

The  invention  thus  achieved  in  America,  was  speedily  import- 
ed into  England ;  and  boats  were  soon  established  upon  the 
principal  rivers  and  coasts  of  Great  Britain.  The  first  was  the 
Comet,  which  plied  for  passengers  upon  the  Clyde  in  1811. 
It  was  some  time  however  before  they  were  adopted  upon  the 
continent  of  Europe.  It  was  not  till  1816  that  steamboats 
sailed  up  the  Seine  to  Paris.  The  first  steamboats  constructed 
in  France  were  built  by  American  enterprise ;  and  plied  upon 
the  Garonne,  in  1818.  In  1822  steam  navigation  was  estab- 
lished upon  the  Loire,  and  a  year  or  two  earlier  upon  the  lake 
of  Geneva.  It  has  continued  to  spread  till  every  European 
river  and  every  European  sea,  is  traversed  now  by  steam. 

The  maritime  character  of  the  British  waters  soon  impressed 
a  change  upon  their  steam  navigation,  and  the  Steamship  was 
the  result.  That  which  had,  in  America,  been  adapted  and  con- 
fined to  the  tranquil  and  extended  rivers  of  this  continent,  now 
took  a  new  adaptation,  and  expanded  to  oceanic  navigation. 
The  first  steamship  crossed  the  Irish  Channel  in  1818.  Lines 
of  steam-packets  soon  crossed  the  channels  which  separate  Eng- 
land from  Ireland  and  France ;  and  a  very  extended  system  of 
Sea  Steamers  gradually  connected  Great  Britain  with  every  part 
of  Europe.  The  first  steam-vessel  crossed  the  channel  from 
Brighton  to  Havre,  in  1816. 

When  this  system  had  become  tolerably  complete,  the  ques- 
tion of  crossing  the  Atlantic  by  steam,  naturally  suggested  it- 


162  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

self.  At  first  the  enterprise  was  doubtful,  and  to  many  it 
seemed  impossible ;  but  vessels  were  constructed  to  test  the 
practicability  of  such  an  enterprise.  In  1838,  two  steara-ves- 
sels,  the  Sirius,  of  Cork,  and  the  Great  Western,  of  Liverpool, 
left  England  for  a  voyage  across  the  Atlantic.  The  purpose  and 
the  time  of  their  departure  was  known  in  New  York ;  and 
watchers  on  this  side  the  Atlantic,  who  remembered  the  first 
voyage  of  "Fulton's  Folly,"  hailed  with  delight,  the  dim  smoke 
in  the  distance,  which  announced  the  success  of  the  undertaking. 
Both  vessels  arrived  on  the  23d  of  April,  after  voyages  re- 
spectively, of  18  and  15  days.  This  achievement  signalized 
the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Victoria. 

The  navigation  companies  of  Great  Britain  immediately  ven- 
tured upon  experiments  for  the  improvement  of  their  steam-ves- 
sels ;  and  a  gradual  and  almost  constant  success  has  attended 
the  efibrt.  The  fate  of  the  President,  in  1841,  of  which  no 
tidings  reached  either  shore,  and  the  wreck  of  the  Great  Britain, 
on  the  Irish  coast,  were  painful  and  significant  drawbacks  ;  but, 
in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Cunard,  the  Atlantic  mail  service  of  the 
British  government  has  attained  a  regulaiity,  a  speed,  and  a 
safety,  altogether  wouderful.  France  and  America  have  fol- 
lowed in  the  same  career  of  progress.  Steam-ships  form  part 
of  every  well-appointed  navy  ;  and  the  most  distant  shores  of 
the  earth  are  now  visited  by  them.  The  East  India  Company's 
steamers  connect  all  the  important  ports  of  British  India  with 
Suez.  The  latest  English  extension  of  the  system  is,  from  Great 
Britain  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  while  the  Pacific  shores 
are  traversed  by  the  American  steamers.  At  the  close  of  1850, 
two  steamships  connected  San  Francisco  with  Oregon — and 
eleven  with  Panama;  while  thirty  noble  vessels  linked  New 
York  with  the  ports  of  Europe,  the  West  Indies,  our  Southern 
States,  and  Central  America.  The  first  American  line  plied  to 
Southampton  and  Bremen  ;  and  the  second,  consisting  of  vessels 
of  300  feet  long,  3,000  tons  burthen,  and  1,000  horse-power — ■ 


AND    REGISTER.  153 

the  largest,  most  powerful,  and  it  is  believed,  the  swiftest  to  be 
found  in  the  world,  connect  New  York  and  Liverpool. 

Steamships  have  been  built  in  England  for  many  of  the  Eu- 
ropean governments,  and  in  1849,  one  was  fitted  out  at  Ports- 
mouth, for  the  Pacha  of  Egypt.  Others  have  been  constructed 
in  America,  for  the  South  American  and  Russian  governments. 
While  steam  frigates  of  many  nations  occasionally  cross  the 
ocean,  no  regular  trans-Atlantic  line  has  been  established,  except 
those  of  the  British  and  American  governments,  for  the  trans- 
mission of  the  mails  between  the  two  continents.  These  are 
owned  by  private  companies,  but  commanded  by  naval  officers, 
and  are  paid  at  a  high  rate  for  the  mail  service  which  they  ren- 
der. The  Cunard  line  receives  £145,000  per  annum,  for 
forty -four  voyages,  carrying  a  mail  each  week,  except  during 
four  winter  months,  when  it  is  carried  once  a  fortnight.  The 
Collins  line  receives  from  the  United  States  government 
$383,000  per  annum,  for  twenty  voyages.  These  rival  lines 
made  many  of  their  best  passages  in  1850  in  10  to  11  days, 
and  their  very  shortest,  in  something  less  than  10  days,  from 
port  to  port,  across  the  Atlantic. 

The  number  of  British  steam-vessels,  in  1848,  was  1,253, 
of  168,000  tons  burthen, — one  tenth  of  which  amount  was 
built  in  that  year.  Thirty -one  sea-steamers,  amounting  to 
42,000  tons  burthen,  were  either  wholly  or  partially  built  in 
our  own  country  during  the  year  1850.  Propellers  have  been 
recently  introduced  into  steam-navigation,  and  are  gaining  much 
favor.  The  first  very  successful  trial  of  them,  was  in  the  steam- 
ship Archimedes ;  and  after  many  other  attempts,  the  Ericson 
propeller  was  satisfactorily  employed  in  the  United  States  steam- 
ship, Princeton.  Though  not  generally  employed  for  steam- 
ships, this  is  becoming  a  favorite  method  of  propelling  boats  on 
our  inland  waters.  There  are  eight  lines  of  propellers,  numbering 
22  vessels,  in  New  York  alone,  besides  many  upon  the  other 

1* 


154  cnr.iSTiAN  RETROsrPxx 

Atlantic  waters,  and  the  great  lakes.     On  the  Mississippi  liigli- 
pressure  boats  are  employed  exclusively. 


SECTION  II. 

RAILROADS. 

The  modern  railroad  dates  from  the  opening  of  the  Liverpool 
and  Manchester  line  in  1830  ;  and  is  due,  like  so  many  of  the 
modern  triumphs  of  combined  skill,  capital,  and  enterprise, 
entirely  to  England.  The  advantages  of  the  level  roadway  had 
been  fully  foreseen  and  could  be  definitely  calculated;  it  had 
even  been  experimentally  tested ;  but  the  value  of  steam  as  a 
moving  power  was  yet  undiscovered.  While  some  deemed  it 
impossible  to  use  any  other  than  stationary  engines  for  the 
draught  of  loaded  cars,  others  spent  a  vast  amount  of  labor  and 
ingenuity  in  contriving  methods  by  which  the  engine  might  be 
made  to  move  upon  the  rails.  It  was  generally  beheved  that 
the  smooth  and  hard  surface  of  the  narrow  rail  would  not  allow 
sufficient  adhesion  to  the  wheel  to  enable  it  to  draw  any  con- 
siderable weight ;  and  plans,  which  now  seem  exceedingly 
curious,  were  devised  to  accomplish  motion  in  some  other  mode. 
The  most  remarkable  was  one  which  proposed  to  move  the  car 
l)y  means  of  iron  feet,  and  limbs,  which  moved  with  ludicrous 
resemblance  to  the  human  knee.  A  reward  however  was 
offered  by  the  company  for  the  best  method  of  applying  steam 
power  ;  and  the  mechanical  skill  of  English  engineers,  gave  to 
the  world  the  Locomotive  engine.  This  improvement  was 
achieved  by  the  distinguished  engineer  Robert  Stevenson  in 
1829  ;  and  its  chief  peculiarity  consisted  in  the  tubular  arrange- 
ii:ent  of  the  flues  that  traverse  the  boiler — an  arrangement 
which  has  since  come  into  universal  adoption. 

At  this  period,  though  high  anticipations  had  been  formed, 
there  was  no  adequate  idea  of  the  amount  of  traffic  which  would 


AND    REGISTER.  155 

pass  over  such  a  road ;  nor  of  the  speed  at  which  it  would 
require  to  be  transported.  The  rails  were  therefore  deemed  to 
be  of  ample  strength  at  35  lbs.  the  yard ;  and  the  engine  and 
tender  weighed  1^  tons.  The  traffic  however,  soon  increased 
beyond  all  estimate ;  the  possible  velocity  exceeded  all  previous 
expectation  ;  and  the  demand  of  the,  public  for  augmented  speed 
constrained  every  exertion  to  attain  it.  This  however  required 
an  increased  power,  and  the  engines  rose  rapidly  to  10,  12,  and 
15  tons.  The  appetite  for  speed  continued  to  increase ;  and 
now  one  company  in  England  owns  36  engines  weighing  with 
their  tenders  40  tons  each.  One  engine  in  that  country  weighs 
with  its  tender  full  freighted,  about  60  tons.  The  average  rate 
of  speed  attained  in  1831  was  17  miles  per  hour;  it  gradually 
increased  till  in  1848  it  was  30  miles.  The  speed  of  the  fastest 
trains,  which  in  1831  was  24  miles,  in  1848  was  on  one  line  40 
miles,  and  on  two  others  50  miles,  per  hour.  In  1831  the 
average  weight  of  a  goods  train  was  52  tons — in  1848  it  varied 
from  160  to  176  tons. 

The  number  of  trains  has  within  the  same  period,  and  in  the 
same  country,  increased  from  150  to  250  per  cent.;  the  weight 
of  the  engines  increased  114  per  cent.;  the  weight  of  the 
carriages  30  per  cent. ;  the  average  speed  90,  and  the  average 
weight  of  the  trains  350  per  cent. 

For  such  increased  work  the  rails  originally  employed  were 
found  totally  inadequate ;  they  were  therefore  taken  up,  and 
replaced  by  others  of  62  and  65  lbs.  per  yard.  These  have 
since  given  place  to  yet  heavier  ones  ;  72  and  75  lbs.  have  been 
employed  ;  and  the  latest  rails  laid  down  in  England  reach  80 
lbs.  and  some,  even  92  lbs.  per  yard. 

The  number  of  trains  passing  over  the  English  railroads  has 
become  very  great:  upon  the  Grand  Junction  line  it  was  in 
1849,  38  daily  ;  upon  the  London  and  Birmingham,  44;  and 
upon  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  it  reached  90  trains  per 
lay. 


156 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 


The  extreme  speed  of  the  fastest  trains  is  not  unfrequently  75 
miles  per  hour ;  though  it  is  beheved  that  in  no  country  except 
Great  Britain  has  such  a  velocity  been  reached.  According  to 
the  experiments  of  Dr.  Hutton,  the  velocity  of  a  cannon  ball  is 
300  miles  per  hour — only  four  times  as  great. 

The  success  which  attended  the  early  eflforts  at  railway 
locomotion  led  to  an  immediate  and  rapid  extension  of  the  sys- 
tem throughout  Great  Britain.  This  has  continued  to  the 
present  time, — at  some  periods  with  a  most  extraordinary 
rapidity.  The  number  of  miles  open  for  traffic  on  the  1st 
January,  1849,  according  to  a  report  of  the  royal  commissioners 
amounted  to  5,007  miles ;  of  which  there  were  in  England 
3,918, — in  Scotland  728, — and  in  Ireland  361  miles.  The 
following  table  will  indicate  the  rate  at  which  the  construction 
of  railroads  has  advanced  within  the  seven  years  extending 
from  1843  to  1849  inclusive. 


Number  of  miles 

open  Jan.  1. 

Miles  op 

ened  during  tl 

ae  year 

1843       ....       1857       ....          95 

1844       .     . 

.       1952        . 

196 

1845       .     . 

.       2148 

293 

1846       .     . 

.       2441        . 

595 

1847       .     . 

.       3036        . 

780 

1848       .     . 

.     .       3816 

1191 

1849       .     . 

.       5007       . 

On  the  1st  Jan.,  1849,  there  were  in  process  of  construction 
2160  miles,  the  greater  part  of  which  was  of  course  com})leted 
within  that  year. 

The  whole  amount  of  railways  authorized  by  Parliament  up 
to  that  day  was  12,012  miles;  of  which  5007  were  open  for 
traffic, — 21G0  in  process  of  construction, — and  4800  yet  to  be 
commenced.  Of  this  last  amount,  the  commissioners  deemed 
that  nearly  one  half  would   never  be  built.     If  2800  of  this 


AND    REGISTER. 


15Y 


4800  miles  should  be  soon  constructed,  the  total  extent  of  the 
English  railway  system  would  be  nearly  10,000  miles.  Their 
present  extent  cannot  be  less  than  6000. 

Upon  the  construction  of  these  roads,  it  appears  by  a  parlia- 
mentary return  that  £200,000,000  had  been  actually  expended; 
of  which  £156,500,000  had  been  paid  in  as  capital,  and 
£43,600,000  had  been  obtained  as  loans.  To  complete  2400 
miles  more  would  require  an  addition  of  £75,000,000  ;  so  that 
an  extent  of  9500  to  10,000  miles  will  have  absorbed  the  sum 
of  £275,000,000  to  £300,000,000. 

The  average  cost  has  been  already  £30,500  per  mile;  and, 
as  many  allowances  must  yet  be  made  for  unfinished  roads  in- 
cluded in  this  estimate,  the  aggregate  will,  it  is  supposed  by 
Dr.  Lardner,  equal  £40,000  per  running  mile. 

The  dividends  upon  these  enormous  investments  have  not,  in 
some  instances,  been  as  great  as  it  was  expected  that  they 
would  be,  though  the  better  class  of  them  are  sufficiently  pro- 
ductive to  pay  very  well.  Ten  of  the  piincipal  lines  paid,  in 
the  first  six  months  of  1849,  an  average  dividend  of  £3.  8s.  Qd. 
per  cent.,  and  this  is,  perhaps,  a  fair  indication  of  the  average 
rate  of  the  whole. 

The  total  number  of  Ecjlish  companies  amounted,  in  1848, 
to  170  ;  and  the  whole  number  of  persons  employed  upon  the 
roads  was,  upon  those  open  for  traffic,  52,680; — upon  those  in 
process  of  construction,  188,000.  The  total  annual  revenue  of 
British  railways  is  estimated  at  not  less  than  £12,000,000, — a 
greater  sum  than  the  annual  revenue  of  inany  important  States. 

The  number  of  passengers  transported  by  this  vast  system 
of  communications  is,  of  course,  immense.  Tlie  number,  in 
1843,  was  23,468,000.  Tlie  annual  increase  has  vai-ied  from 
one  sixth  to  one  third,  till,  in  1843,  it  amounted  in  all  to 
58,000,000;  and,  by  the  close  of  1850,  to  more  than 
60,000,000.  The  average  distance  travelled  was,  by  first  class 
passengers,  27  miles;  by  second  class,  16;  and  by  third  class, 


158  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

14  miles.  The  daily  average  number  of  passengers  has  in- 
creased, within  the  same  period,  from  G4,000  to  1G0,000. 

The  average  rate  of  fare,  as  compared  with  the  coaches  previ- 
ously employed,  is  computed  at  about  two  fifths  of  the  amount. 
The  whole  saving  in  time,  expenses  and  fare,  upon  such  a  num- 
ber of  passengers  is  estimated  at  not  less  than  £17,000,000  in 
two  years. 

The  success  of  railway  transportation  on  the  Liver}X)ol  and 
Manchester  line  stimulated  American  enterprise  to  the  earUest 
effort  in  this  direction,  which  was  made  out  of  Great  Britain. 
Several  lines  were  projected  between  our  principal  cities,  which 
were  soon  constructed  and  tested. 

A  very  few  years  sufficed  to  bring  it  into  practical  operation 
in  New  England  and  New  York,  and,  once  commenced,  the 
progress  of  the  system  was  extremely  rapid.  As  early  as  the 
year  1843,  there  were  more  than  4000  miles  of  railroad  in 
operation,  before  any  European  country, — even  before  Great 
Britain  itself, — possessed  such  communication  to  any  similar  ex- 
tent. 

In  the  year  1830,  there  were  some  short  roads  in  existence, 
amounting  to  about  176  miles  in  length.  They  were  worked, 
however,  by  horses.  Steam  power  was  first  introduced  upon 
the  Mohawk  and  Hudson  Road,  in  the  year  1833.  By  the 
close  of  1840,  there  were  in  operation  2380  miles,  costing 
$70,000,000;  in  1845,  3650  miles,  costing  $111,550,000; 
and  in  1848,  there  were  5258  miles,  at  a  cost  of  $153,420,000. 
At  the  close  of  1849,  there  were  in  operation  8797  miles,  at  an 
aggregate  cost  of  $280,500,000.  The  average  cost  is  not  far 
from  $32,000  per  mile. 

The  very  great  cheapness  of  the  American  roads  as  compared 
with  the  English,  has  led  many  to  imagine  that  their  structure 
is  inferior,  and  that  they  must  rapidly  deteriorate ;  but  this  is 
regarded  as  an  error. 

The  annual  deterioration  beyond  ordinary  repairs  is  less  upon 


AND    REGISTER.  159 

well-coiistructed  roads  than  one  per  cent,  on  tbe  capital.  The 
cheapness  of  these  lines  is  due  to  several  circumstances,  such  as 
the  following : — an  entire  exemption  from  parliamentary  ex- 
penses in  obtaining  a  charter, — the  moderate  cost  of  land, — the 
low  rate  of  legal  expenses, — and  the  facts  that  our  lines  are 
generally  surface  lines, — without  expensive  cuttings,  viaducts, 
(fee,  and  with  single  tracks,  except  where  business  requires  them 
to  be  double.  The  average  rate  of  fare  is  nearly  5  cents  per 
mile ;  though  in  the  Northern  States  it  is  generally  materially 
less  than  this.  In  no  case,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  does  the 
average  rate  for  transportation  of  different  classes  of  passengers 
exceed  S\  cents — generally  it  is  less  than  three  cents. 

The  extent  of  railway  lines  in  the  different  sections  of  the 
country,  was  in  July,  1850,  nearly  as  follows  : — 

Miles. 

In  New  England,  . 2465 

In  the  Middle  States, 2510 

In  the  Southern  States, 1549 

In  the  Western  States, 1053 

Of  these  sums  1049  miles  were  in  Massachusetts,  1306  in 
New  York,  635  in  Georgia,  and  390  in  Ohio;  these  states 
standing  highest  in  the  several  divisions.  During  the  last  six 
months,  nearly  one  thousand  miles  have  been  brought  into  use, 
principally  in  the  West ;  and  the  extension  continues  with  per- 
haps yet  greater  rapidity  than  this. 

The  main  coast  line  extends  fully  one  thousand  miles  from 
Portland,  Me.,  to  Wilmington,  N.  C,  with  a  single  break  on  the 
line  of  the  Potomac  from  Washington  to  Fredericksburg,  Va. — 
about  40  miles. 

The  principal  northern  cities  are  all  centres  of  railway  com- 
munication. Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore, 
are  all  connected  with  each  other  by  main  lines, — each  has 
numerous  local  Unes  around  it, — and  each  is  rapidly  opening 


160  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

communications  with  the  great  interior  of  the  continent.  Bos- 
ton is  connected  by  lines  now  in  complete  operation  with  Og- 
densburgh,  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  a  distance  of  some  400  miles ; 
and  by  Albany,  with  Lake  Eric  at  Buffalo,  a  distance  of  525 
miles.  New  York  is  rapidly  connecting  with  Montreal,  and 
with  Lake  Erie  at  Dunkirk — though  the  lines  are  not  yet  com- 
plete. Philadelphia  and  B/^ltimore  are  aiming  to  connect  with 
the  Ohio  ;  and  Charleston  and  Savannah  with  the  Mississippi. 
The  latter  link  is  complete  from  these  two  cities  to  the  Tennes- 
see river,  a  distance  of  about  400  miles  from  the  coast.  No 
road  of  any  extent  has  yet  been  completed  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. 

The  remarkable  adaptation  of  the  AVestern  continent  to  rail- 
road communication  has  suggested  many  great  enterprises  of 
this  kind.  The  connection  of  the  Eastern  cities  with  the  upper 
Mississippi  is  fast  approaching  completion  ;  the  connection  of 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  great  lakes  by  way  of  Mobile  and 
Chicago  is  seriously  contemplated,  and  is  now  under  survey, 
along  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  while  all  these  immense 
projects  are  thrown  into  the  shade  by  the  proposed  Pacific  rail- 
road of  Mr.  Whitney.  In  this  it  is  suggested  to  cross  the  con- 
tinent, and  connect  the  two  oceans — an  enterprise  so  vast  that 
nothing  but  the  whole  value  of  the  soil  through  which  it  passes 
cf)uld  profitably  complete  it.  The  position  of  the  government 
of  this  country  is  now  such  that  the  gift  of  these  lands  will  ac- 
complish the  construction  of  the  mightiest  and  most  valuable 
industrial  work,  which  ever  human  hands  achieved,  or  human 
genius  planned.  This  highway  of  the  world's  traffic  may  be 
left  a  legacy  to  the  generations  of  the  future,  that  will  forever 
claim  their  admiration  and  their  gratitude  for  the  generation 
whose  noble  foresight  planned,  and  whose  wise  economy  secured 
it.  How  long  shall  its  construction  be  delayed  and  jeoparded 
by  indifference  and  neglect  ? 

After  the  English  experiments  had  demonstrated  the  value 


AND    REGISTER.  161 

of  the  railroad  system,  Belgium  was  tlie  first  European  country 
to  adopt  it.  The  impulse  given  to  Belgium  by  her  attainment 
of  independence  stimulated  her  government  to  a  grand  project, 
which  the  commercial  necessities  of  the  country,  now  cut  off 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt,  the  natural  outlet  of  its  com- 
merce, seemed  to  require.  It  was  accordingly  proposed  to  con- 
struct two  great  lines,  which  should  intersect  each  other  at  Ma- 
lines  ;  and  each  branch  of  which  was  to  connect  by  side  lines 
with  the  principal  places  near  its  route.  The  project  was  an- 
nounced in  May,  1834,  and  was  received  with  such  enthusiasm 
by  the  people,  that  the  work  was  commenced  on  the  1st  of 
June  of  the  same  year.  In  1840,  there  were  190  miles  open  ; 
in  1841,  212  miles;  in  1842,  246  miles;  in  1843,  300  miles; 
in  1844,  347  miles — the  whole  distance  of  the  original  plain. 

These  roads  have  been  constructed  entirely  by  the  govern- 
ment, through  a  commission  empowered  to  take  all  necessary 
steps  for  the  purpose.  They  are  of  especial  note,  as  the  govern- 
ment has  put  forth  annually  the  most  complete  and  satisfactory 
report  of  their  management  yet  published  by  any  nation. 
Through  these  reports  a  great  variety  of  very  important  ques- 
tions relating  to  the  economy  of  railways  have  been  more  fully 
elucidated  than  by  any  other  statistics  of  this  subject. 

The  total  cost  of  these  roads  is  about  $31,500,000  ;  and  the 
average  cost  per  mile  $90,000.  Their  average  speed  is  18  miles 
per  hour  including  stops — and  25  miles  their  running  speed. 

France  was  the  next  to  appropriate  the  system,  though  not 
without  a  considerable  interval.  In  1837  a  small  line  was  com- 
pleted by  a  private  company  from  Paris  to  St.  Germain,  13 
miles.  This  circumstance,  together  with  the  rapid  progress  of 
the  English  roads,  constrained  the  government  to  take  up  the 
subject ;  and  a  commission  was  appointed  to  devise  a  system  of 
roads  for  France.  A  report  was  prepared  in  1838,  looking  to  a 
comprehensive  system  for  the  whole  country ;  and  based  on  the 
principle  that  the  government  should  construct  the  great  lines, 


162  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

and  leave  the  smaller  ones  to  private  companies.  Some  change 
however  took  place  in  the  public  mind  on  this  point;  along 
delay  occurred  before  the  question  could  be  settled  ;  and  in  the 
interval  private  companies  came  forward  and  oifered  to  execute 
some  of  the  most  important.  Under  these  auspices  the  work 
was  undertaken ;  and  by  the  joint  action  of  the  government  and 
of  stock  companies  it  has  advanced  to  a  considerable  extent. 

In  1842  a  new  system  of  lines  was  proposed  in  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies,  and  was  adopted  as  the  basis  of  the  French  works. 
By  this  plan  seven  principal  roads  were  determined  upon — • 
radiating  from  Paris — the  first  leading  to  the  Belgian  frontier, — ' 
the  second  to  one  of  the  channel  ports, — the  third,  to  one  of  the 
Atlantic  ports, — the  fourth  and  fifth  to  the  Spanish  frontier  of 
Bordeaux,  and  Perpignan, — the  sixth  to  the  Mediterranean  by 
Marseilles, — the  seventh  to  the  Rhine  by  Strasbourg.  Two 
other  great  lines  were  also  fixed  upon — from  Marseilles  one  to 
Bordeaux — the  other  by  Lyons  to  the  Fthine. 

This  system  has  been  in  part  carried  out.  The  total  length 
of  road  projected  is  3,573  miles,  of  which  1,'722  miles  are  open 
for  trafiic,  and  1,274  are  in  construction  :  5l1  miles  remain  to 
be  commenced. 

A  very  extended  system  of  roads  has  been  projected  in  the 
German  States.  In  the  north  of  Germany  including  Prussia, 
Hanover  and  Saxony,  there  are  already  in  operation  a  great 
number,  covering  with  a  close  net-work  of  railways  a  tract  of 
country  400  miles  in  length  from  East  to  West,  and  200  miles 
in  depth  from  North  to  South.  Of  this  system  Berlin  is  the 
great  centre  ;  and  seven  great  lines  radiate  from  it  in  all  direc- 
tions. 

Another  great  system  with  this,  follows  the  four  principal 
valleys  of  Germany  south  into  Switzerland  and  Austria.  It  is 
designed  to  lead  the  main  lines  across  the  Alps,  and  connect 
thus  the  Baltic  and  the  German  Ocean  on  the  North,  with  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  Adriatic,  by  Turin  and  Genoa — Verona 


AND    REGISTER.  163 

and  Venice — Vienna  and  Trieste.  The  latter  alone  of  these 
communications  is  yet  completed ;  and  by  means  of  it  the 
traveller  crosses  Europe  from  Hamburg  to  the  Adriatic  in  60 
hours.  Numerous  independent  lines  intersect  Germany  in  every 
direction  ;  and  branch  roads  extend  to  and  from  every  con- 
siderable city. 

These  roads  are  constructed  very  much  upon  the  model  of 
the  American,  with  high  gradients,  numerous  curves,  and  a 
single  track.  Their  cost  has  been  about  $65,000  per  mile  ;  and 
the  whole  amount  invested  in  them  is  not  far  below  $70,000,000. 
There  were  5,342  miles  open  in  1849,  and  800  miles  more  in 
process  of  construction.  In  Prussia  they  have  been  constructed 
almost  entirely  by  private  companies,  with  some  government 
aid, — in  Austria  and  in  Southern  Germany,  generally  by  the 
government,  which  exercises  also  a  very  rigid  supervision  of 
them.  In  1850,  the  different  German  governments  owned 
1500  miles  of  railway. 

Russia  is  projecting  a  vast  system  of  railroads,  consisting  of 
five  principal  lines.  The  only  one  of  these  yet  in  operation  is 
that  from  Cracow  to  Warsaw ;  which  is  to  be  completed  to  St. 
Petersburg,  a  distance  of  683  miles.  The  only  one  at  present 
actively  prosecuted  is  that  connecting  the  two  capitals  of  St. 
Petersburg  and  Moscow — a  distance  of  450  miles.  This  is 
constructing  under  the  supervision  of  Americans,  and  at  the 
expense  of  the  Emperor's  government. 

In  Spain,  a  single  line  of  18  miles  in  length,  connecting  Bar- 
celona with  Mataro,  is  all  that  has  been  constructed.  In  Italy, 
several  small  roads  exist,  of  which  the  principal  is  that  from 
Venice  to  Vicenza,  40  miles.  None  yet  exists  in  any  part  of 
the  Papal  States  ;  but  there  are  several  small  ones  in  the  vicinity 
of  Naples,  and  also  in  Lombardy,  Sardinia,  and  Tuscany.  The 
total  length  of  the  Italian  roads  is  about  150  miles. 

The  influence  of  such  systems  of  communication  as  we  have 
described,  it  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate.     They  form  one 


164  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

of  the  most  marked,  important,  recent,  and  therefore,  character- 
istic, elements  of  the  civihzation  of  our  age.  They  indicate  its 
progress  with  greater  truth  than  at  first  sight  appears.  Not 
only  do  they  facilitate  communication,  but  they  hold  a  most 
important  relation  to  the  whole  capital,  and  productive  industry, 
of  a  people.  Many  articles  of  great  use  have  no  commercial 
value,  from  the  impossibility  of  transporting  them — thus,  ice  at 
mid  winter  is  of  no  value  in  New  England,  its  value  depends 
upon  the  means  of  preserving  it.  The  tropical  fruits  are  of 
value  only  within  the  limited  distance  to  which  they  can  be 
transported  in  a  sound  state ;  every  extension  of  that  distance 
increases  in  a  corresponding  degree,  the  value  of  such  articles. 
The  fish  of  the  coasts  acquire  a  new  value  when  they  can  be 
carried  far  into  the  interior ;  and  the  game  of  the  interior  wilds, 
when  it  can  be  brought  down  to  the  coast.  Such  facilities  of 
transport,  therefore,  give  an  increased  value  to  the  whole  pro- 
ductions of  an  extended  region ;  and  tend  thus  to  the  rapid 
multiplication  of  capital,  and  stimulus  of  industry. 

The  great  cities  no  longer  depend  for  their  daily  supplies  upon 
the  little  ring  of  land  immediately  around  them  ;  distant  tracts 
daily  send  milk,  butter,  fruit,  and  vegetables — remote  districts 
supply  fuel  and  food  to  the  great  centres.  The  agriculture  of  a 
whole  State  becomes,  in  consequence,  more  valuable.  Cum- 
brous articles  from  the  forest  and  the  mine,  which  were  value- 
less before,  receive  a  new  value  from  the  opening  of  any  avenue 
of  trade  which  gives  them  access  to  a  market.  The  wilderness 
is  penetrated,  the  forest  is  felled,  the  mine  is  sunk,  because  now 
the  timber  and  metal  can  be  sold  at  a  profit.  Thus  populations 
settle  on  the  mountain-side,  and  civilization  subdues  the  prime- 
val wild. 

The  total  amount  of  Railways  constructed  and  in  progress, 
in  Europe,  in  1848,  was  about  20,000  miles — of  which  nearly 
half  was  in  Great  Britain.  An  amount  equal  to  that  of  Great 
Britain  might  be  set  down  very  safely  for  our  own  country. 


AND    REGISTER.  165 

Two  thirds,  therefore,  of  the  railways,  and  ahnost  the  whole  of 
the  Oceanic  steam  navigation,  of  the  world,  which  is  applicable  to 
commercial  purposes,  were  in  the  hands  of  these  two  nations. 
A  similar  proportion  of  the  capital  which  such  traffic  creates, 
must  centre  in  their  marts,  and  go  to  increase  their  efficiency 
and  their  influence. 

Within  the  first  half  of  1849,  one  thousand  miles  of  road 
were  brought  into  use  in  the  United  States.  This  rate  of  in- 
crease would  indicate  a  growth  which,  in  the  course  of  ten 
years  will  make  the  American  roads  equal  in  length  to  the 
whole  of  those  existing  in  the  rest  of  the  world.  In  England 
then,  and  especially  in  our  own  land,  wealth,  trade,  and  the  so- 
cial advancement  and  political  influence  which  they  beget,  are  to 
find  their  chief  places  of  abode  in  the  half-century  to  come.  In 
these  Protestant  lands,  these  lands  distinguished  among  Prot- 
estant lands,  for  their  evangelical  faith  and  zeal — the  means  of 
influence  are  to  accumulate  and  abound.  Can  there  be  a  doubt 
that  He  who  does  his  will  among  the  host  of  heaven,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth,  is  furnishing  to  Protestant  Faith  and 
Puritan  Piety,  the  means  of  moulding  the  generations  that  are 
to  come  ?  Is  not  Providence  affording  us  the  means  of  stamp- 
ing our  own  peculiarities  of  mind  and  character  upon  the  less 
earnest  and  active  nations  which  we  have  left  so  far  behind  us 
in  social  development,  and  whose  backwardness  in  this  respect 
only  indicates  that  yet  more  ruinous  state  of  spiritual  depression 
out  of  which  the  defects  of  their  civilization  arise  ? 


CHAPTER  YIIL 

SOCIAL   PKOGRESS   IX   THE   FIRST   HALF   OF   THE 
KINETEENTH   CENTURY. 

SECTION  I. 

HISTORY    OF    JURISPRUDENCE. 

The  progress  of  jurisprudence,  during  the  past  lialf-century, 
constitutes  one  of  the  most  marked  phases  of  social  improve- 
ment. Changes  so  radical,  so  wise,  and  so  humane,  have  never 
before  been  witnessed,  save  only  in  the  divine  Institution  of  the 
Hebrew  code. 

During  the  last  century,  there  was  little  activity  in  the  re- 
form of  legislative  enactments ;  indeed  in  many  cases  the  ten- 
dency seemed  retrograde.  In  England,  where  alone  there  was 
any  freedom  of  remonstrance  and  reform,  the  public  mind  seemed 
almost  satisfied  with  the  attainment  of  constitutional  liberty ; 
and  the  national  energies  were  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  the 
physical  and  external  advancement,  which  formed  so  marked  a 
characteristic  of  that  era.  Political  abuses  were  without  num- 
ber,— the  press  was  greatly  at  the  mercy  of  the  government, — 
criminal  law  tended  only  to  increased  cruelty, — the  prisons 
were  in  a  shameful  condition, — education  was  nowhere  to  be 
obtained  by  the  masses, — and  capital  punishments  were  multi- 
phed  with  a  dreadful  frequency,  and  a  most  criminal  indiffer- 
ence. One  hundred  and  sixty  offences  were  by  law  punishable 
with  death !  Yet  the  most  eminent  legal  and  political  writers 
of  that  period,  Paley  and  Blackstone,  thought  it  not  unworthy 
of  them  to  vindicate  such  jurisprudence. 


CHRISTIAN   RETROSPECT   AND   REGISTER.  167 

The  first  writer  who  seriously  proposed  the  general  reform  of 
this  system,  was  the  celebrated  Beiitham.  Possessing  the 
keenest  powers  of  reasoning,  and  a  most  extraordinary  memory, 
he  gave  himself  to  unwearied  labor  to  become  acquainted  with 
the  ancient  and  the  modern  systems  ahke.  His  eminent  attain- 
ments were  controlled  by  a  humane  and  benevolent  spirit ;  and 
for  fifty  years,  from  IT 80  to  1830,  his  publications  led  the  way 
in  the  improvement  of  legal  science.  They  were  translated  into 
French  by  Dumont  the  Genevan,  and  gained  a  very  wide  circu- 
lation in  France  and  throughout  Europe,  where  indeed  some  of 
them  were  first  published. 

One  great  reform  in  the  last  century  England  owed  to  the 
labors  of  Erskine.  In  several  brilhant  efforts,  and  at  consider- 
able personal  sacrifice,  he  assailed  the  principle  of  constructive 
treason;  and  by  his  courage,  devotion,  and  eloquence,  he  ob- 
tained a  revisal  of  the  rule  which  forbade  juries  to  decide  upon 
the  question  of  a  law  in  suits  for  libel :  only  since  that  period 
has  the  English  press  been  absolutely  free.  This  principle  is 
esteemed  of  so  much  value  that  it  has  recently  been  embodied 
in  the  new  constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

The  principles  developed  by  Bentham  were  assiduously  spread 
through  England  by  his  followers — among  whom  Mr.  James 
Mill  and  Dr.  Bowring  were  conspicuous.  In  Parhament,  Rom- 
illy.  Mackintosh,  and  Brougham  labored  to  incorporate  them 
into  the  legislation  of  that  country.  The  effort  was  both  a  dif- 
ficult and  a  protracted  one. 

Romilly  introduced  in  1808  a  bill  repealing  the  law  which 
made  it  a  capital  crime  to  steal  from  the  person  anything  of  the 
value  of  twelvepence  ;  and  succeeded  in  carrying  this,  and  an- 
other enactment  of  a  similar  kind,  through  Parliament.  But 
his  avowal  of  an  intention  to  attempt,  however  cautiously,  a 
general  reform  of  the  penal  code,  awakened  the  utmost  alarm 
and  hostility,  and  he  was  forced  for  the  time  to  abandon  the 
design.     In  1811  he  succeeded  in  abolishing  capital  punishment 


168  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

in  cases  in  which  soldiers  and  sailors  were  found  begging  with- 
out regular  certificates  of  discharge.  He  subsequently  exposed 
many,  and  corrected  some,  of  the  endless  abuses  of  the  Court  of 
Chancery. 

In  1819,  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  as  chairman  of  a  committee 
for  the  revision  of  the  penal  law,  brought  in  six  bills  abolishing 
the  punishment  of  death  in  certain  cases  of  forgery,  robbery,  and 
larceny,  and  for  other  important  amendments ;  but  the  effort 
was  again  a  vain  one.  Not  disheartened,  the  same  accomplished 
statesman  introduced  in  1823  resolutions  looking  to  a  reform 
yet  more  thorough  ;  and  though  these  were  formally  defeated, 
the  growing  sentiment  of  the  nation  in  favor  of  such  reform 
compelled  the  government  to  undertake  the  same  work,  and 
soon  a  measure  was  enacted  abolishing  the  death  penalty  in 
some  fifty  instances. 

In  the  year  1828,  Brougham  delivered  his  memorable  speech 
in  the  House  of  Commons  on  "  The  Present  State  of  the  Law." 
It  assailed  the  system  of  civil  procedure,  and  exposed  unspar- 
ingly the  delays,  abuses,  defects,  and  the  consequent  vexa- 
tions and  oppressions  of  this  remedial  portion  of  the  law  ;  and 
suggested  measures  for  their  removal  and  correction.  The  re- 
sult was  the  appointment  of  two  commissions  of  inquiry, — one 
into  the  state  of  the  common  law, — the  other  into  the  condition 
of  real  property.  Upon  these  commissions  twelve  of  the  ablest 
lawyers  of  the  kingdom  labored  ;  with  what  success  may  be  un- 
derstood from  the  fact  that  in  1840,  Lord  Brougham  stated  that 
out  of  sixty  most  important  defects  which  that  speech  pointed 
out,  fifty-five  had  been  effectually  remedied. 

A  few  years  later  a  third  commission  was  appointed,  to  which 
the  thorough  reform  and  codification  of  the  criminal  law  were 
referred ;  and  very  numerous  improvements  in  the  penal  code 
through  the  last  fifteen  years,  attest  the  extent  and  value  of 
their  labors.  The  reports  of  these  three  commissions  have  dis- 
played great  learning  and  ability,  have  introduced  radical  and 


AND    REGISTER.  169 

beneficent  clianges  into  the  English  law,  and  have  been  studied 
and  quoted  in  our  own  country  as  of  the  highest  authority  and 
value. 

The  progress  of  legal  reform  constitutes  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting chapters  in  the  recent  history  of  France.  During  the 
last  century,  until  the  Revolution,  the  legal  system  of  that  coun- 
try stood  in  urgent  need  of  a  reconstruction.  The  Roman  or 
civil  law  was  universal  throughout  the  country ;  but  its  chief 
application  was  to  the  regulation  of  contracts.  The  rights  of 
property  in  married  people,  and  the  tenures  of  landed  property, 
varied  in  the  diflferent  parts  of  the  kingdom ;  and  numerous 
local  customs  prevailed  with  the  force  of  law  in  every  community. 
Feudal  rights,  too,  remained  in  such  numbers  and  of  such  a 
character  as  to  be  greatly  vexatious  and  oppressive  to  the  mass 
of  the  nation  ;  a  circumstance  which  was  one  of  the  causes  of 
the  violence  of  the  Revolution.  But  such  was  the  attachment  of 
the  higher  classes  to  these  feudal  privileges,  and  such  the  preju- 
dices of  the  people  in  favor  of  their  local  laws,  that  any  general 
and  just  system  was  impossible  while  society  retained  the  form 
it  then  had.  These  numerous  and  perplexing  systems  continued 
therefore  till  the  grand  change  in  French  society  at  the  close  of 
the  last  century.  The  South  was  more  under  the  sway  of  the 
Roman,  the  North,  of  the  German  law.  Of  the  particular 
systems  of  law  prevailing  in  the  great  feudal  Provinces,  that  of 
Normandy  was  the  most  important,  as  it  became  after  the  con- 
quest the  basis  of  the  feudal  law  of  England ;  the  next  was  that 
of  the  city  of  Paris. 

When  the  frantic  violence  of  the  Revolution  had  trampled 
down  all  the  hereditary  rights  and  institutions  of  the  nation,  a 
renovation  of  the  system  became  possible.  Napoleon,  seven 
months  after  his  elevation  to  the  consulate  in  1799,  on  his  return 
from  the  brilhant  campaign  of  Marengo,  named  a  commission 
of  four  eminent  French  jurisconsults  to  whom  the  work  was 

8 


170  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

entrusted.  In  seven  months  more  tlieir  task  was  completed  and 
printed,  March  15,  1801. 

It  was  first  submitted  to  all  the  courts  of  Appeal  of  France  ; 
and  when  reported  upon  by  them,  it  was  taken  up  in  the  Council 
of  State,  where  it  was  debated  in  Napoleon's  presence  at  length  ; 
and  where  it  received  some  modifications  from  himself.  In 
March,  1804,  it  was  promulgated. 

It  consists  of  six  distinct  parts, — 1st,  the  civil  code  ;  2d,  the 
code  of  civil  procedure ;  3d,  the  code  of  commerce  ;  4th,  that  of 
criminal  procedure  ;  5th,  the  penal  code  ;  6th,  that  of  woods  and 
forests.  The  latter  is,  from  the  wants  of  a  country  denuded  of 
its  forests  by  long  occupancy,  a  matter  of  much  more  concern 
with  the  European  nations  than  with  us. 

This  system  of  laws  received  the  name  of  the  Code  Napoleon, 
and  was  regarded  by  him  as  his  chief  gift  to  France.  It 
equalized  the  administration  of  law  throughout  that  country, 
upon  a  basis  of  justice  and  wisdom.  It  established  courts  of 
commerce  for  the  speedy  settlement  of  disputes  between  mercan- 
tile men ;  and  introduced  the  trial  by  jury, — though  without 
the  obnoxious  rule  (which  goes  so  far  to  annul  the  benefits  of 
that  institution  among  us)  of  requiring  unanimity  in  order  to  a 
verdict. 

At  the  Restoration  the  code  was  untouched,  though  its  name 
was  changed.  It  has  since  received  various  modifications,  of 
which  the  chief  respected  the  article  permitting  divorces. 

This  was  the  first  great  eflfort  in  that  direction  which  modern 
history  records.  Austria  and  Prussia  had  made  some  attempts 
at  systematizing  their  laws  in  the  last  century,  but  with  little 
result.  A  code  was  put  in  force  by  the  former  in  1*786,  in 
Gallicia;  and  after  many  improvements  it  was  extended  to 
Lombardy  and  Venice  in  1815.  But  the  constitution  of  the 
state — fiscal  rights — feudal  and  local  privileges — the  army — 
commerce — and  the  Jews  were  exempt  from  its  application.  This 
constitutes  it  is  believed  at  the  present  day  the  Austrian  code. 


AND    REGISTER.  lYl 

In  Spain  a  code  of  commerce  was  promulgated  by  Ferdinand 
VII.  in  1829.  Before  that  time  a  variety  of  royal  ordinances, 
and  of  local  usages,  perplexed  commerce  in  the  Spanish  ports. 
The  Cortes  in  1822  decreed  the  formation  of  botli  criminal  and 
civil  codes ;  the  former  was  suppressed,  and  the  latter  very 
imperfectly  executed,  by  the  government  in  1836. 

The  code  l!^apoleon  being  based  upon  the  civil  law,  has 
naturally  attracted  great  attention  in  all  those  nations  whose 
jurisprudence  rested  on  the  same  foundation.  It  has  accordingly 
become  the  model  of  legal  reform  throughout  a  great  part  of 
Europe.  Prussia,  Sardinia,  Geneva,  and  the  Sicilies,  have  formed 
similar  systems ;  and  Russia  is  taking  steps  in  the  same 
direction.  On  this  continent  it  was  early  copied  in  the  codes 
of  Hayti  and  Louisiana  ;  both  of  which  communities  had  derived 
their  laws  from  the  same  origin.  More  recently  Brazil  moulded 
its  jurisprudence  into  a  similar  form. 

It  is  gratifying  to  witness  this  extension  throughout  so  many 
of  the  modern  nations,  of  a  system  so  far  in  advance,  both  in  its 
methods,  and  its  principles,  of  all  the  legislation  which  had  pre- 
ceded it.  The  uniform  and  high  appreciation  in  which  it  has 
been  held  furnishes  an  assurance  of  its  ultimate  prevalence  in 
all  the  civil  law  countries  of  the  world.  It  is  an  example  of  the 
good  which  a  wise  and  kind  Providence  ever  brings  out  of  evil, 
that  this  lasting  benefit  of  Society  should  have  had  its  source  in 
the  revolution  which  for  a  time  threatened  the  overthrow  of  all 
institutions.  It  suggests,  too,  the  thought  that  revolutionary 
violence  is  sometimes  less  destructive  and  hopeless  than  it  seems, 
when  we  find  what  reforms  grow  out  of  those  dark  hours,  and 
how  permanent,  and  universal,  is  the  good,  when  the  evil  has 
passed  away. 

Simultaneous  with  the  legal  reforms  to  which  we  have  re- 
ferred, in  Great  Britain,  was  a  series  of  progressive  movements 
second  in  importance  to  none  which  history  records  in  the  prog- 
ress of  British  freedom.     One  of  these  was  the  important  meas* 


l72  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

ure  of  Catliolic  Emancipation.  This  term  denotes  the  removal 
of  the  restrictions  under  which  persons  of  that  Faith  were  laid. 
The  first  great  movement  in  this  direction  took  place,  in  1Y93, 
when  Catholics  were  allowed  the  elective  franchise,  and  were 
permitted  to  hold  office,  and  to  bear  commissions  in  the  army 
and  navy.  They  were,  however,  still  excluded  from  the  three 
highest  grades  of  the  service,  from  thirty  public  offices,  and 
from  Parliament, — principally  by  two  statutes  known  as  the 
Corporation  and  Test  Acts,  and  were  still  legally  liable  to  vari- 
ous severe  and  degrading  conditions. 

The  Legislative  Union  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  took 
place  in  1801,  and  the  Catholics  commenced  from  that  period 
a  series  of  movements  designed  to  effect  the  removal  of  these 
restrictions.  Under  Pitt's  administration,  all  Parliamentary  ac- 
tion was  prevented  by  the  hostility  of  the  king  to  any  such 
changes.  In  1822,  a  motion  of  Canning's  for  Catholic  Relief 
passed  the  House  of  Commons,  but  was  lost  in  the  House  of 
Lords ;  and  the  same  fate  befell  similar  measures  introduced  in 
1825  and  1827. 

Public  opinion,  however,  was  rapidly  coming  round  to  the 
approval  of  such  a  bill,  and  the  Catholic  voice  was  earnestly 
demanding  it.  At  length  the  government  found  that  it  could 
not  safely  be  longer  withheld.  The  bill  was  finally  advocated 
by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  passed  under  the  administration  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington.  By  this  law  Catholics  were  made  eligible 
to  all  offices  except  those  of  Lord  Chancellor,  Lord  Lieutenant 
of  Ireland,  Commissioner  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  Regent 
of  the  Kingdom ;  and  from  presentations,  courts,  and  offices 
connected  with  the  Established  Church.  The  year  1829  wit- 
nessed this  termination  of  a  series  of  measures  long  the  reproach 
of  the  British  name,  and  the  scandal  of  her  Protestant  freedom ; 
and  the  statute  book  of  England  bears  no  longer  any  penal 
enactments,  nor  with  the  single  exception  of  the  exclusion  of  the 


AND    REGISTER.  1*73 

Jews  from  Parliament,  does  it  impose  any  civil  disabilities  upon 
its  subjects  on  account  of  tbeir  religious  belief. 

Another  of  these  important  measures  was  that  known  as  the 
Eeform  BHl.  The  constitution  of  the  House  of  Commons  had 
been  unchanged  for  a  period  of  six  hundred  years.  In  this 
period  places  formerly  populous  had  become  deserted,  and  great 
cities  had  sprung  up  on  desolate  moors ;  but  the  latter  were  un- 
represented, and  the  former  retained  all  their  original  impor- 
tance on  the  rolls  of  Parliament.  In  one  of  these  ruinous  places, 
which  acquired  an  immortality  in  the  discussions  of  the  Reform 
Bill,  a  recent  writer  observes, — "  JSTot  a  tenement  had  been  seen 
there  since  Columbus  discovered  America."  Yet  old  Sarum 
had  its  representative,  while  cities,  where  the  commerce  of  the 
world  had  centered,  were  unknown  within  the  walls  of  Parlia- 
ment. This  mockery  of  representation  had  long  scandalized  the 
liberal  and  reforming  spirit  of  this  century,  and  the  French 
Revolution,  of  1830,  breathed  a  new  impulse  into  the  progress- 
ive party,  which  expressed  itself  in  a  general  and  urgent  de- 
mand for  a  reformation  of  Parliament.  The  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton and  Sir  R.  Peel  resisted  the  measure,  but  were  driven  from 
office.  Earl  Grey,  with  a  liberal  ministry,  undertook  the  gov- 
ernment, and  Lord  J.  Russell  introduced  a  bill  into  Parliament 
for  a  reform.  It  became  the  signal  for  a  conflict  such  as  had 
not  agitated  the  country  since  the  Revolution.  The  King  was 
obliged  to  dissolve  the  Parliament  and  appeal  to  the  people  in 
an  election.  In  the  new  Parliament  the  bill  was  passed  by  a 
majority  of  109.  The  Lords  met  it  with  a  hostility  which 
seemed  desperate — which  resisted  all  argument — and  was  deaf 
to  appeals  of  surpassing  power.  It  was  only  upon  the  threat 
of  a  measure,  which  would  have  revolutionized  the  House  of 
Peers  itself,  that  the  passage  of  the  bill  was  permitted,  and 
something  like  a  popular  representation  became,  in  fact,  though 
very  imperfectly,  the  constitution  of  Great  Britain. 

Another  reform  of  the  same  era  was  that  which  marshalled 


1*14:  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

the  British  power  on  the  side  of  freedom  against  the  negro 
slavery  of  the  Western  World.  Such  shivery  had  been  declared 
illegal,  in  the  last  century,  under  the  auspices  of  Clarkson  and 
Sharp.  The  same  philanthropic  men  pursued  their  labors 
against  the  African  slave-trade,  till,  in  1806,  it  was  condemned 
by  Parliament,  and  in  the  succeeding  year  all  legal  tolerance 
of  it  was  taken  away. 

The  public  mind  of  Great  Britain  had,  however,  become  too 
much  enlightened  on  this  subject  to  rest  there,  and  the  agita- 
tion still  went  on.  The  slavery  of  the  British  West  Indies  ap- 
pealed strongly  to  the  humane  spirit  now  thoroughly  aroused 
in  many  a  heart,  that,  amid  the  discussions  of  the  former  con- 
flicts, had  learned  to  cherish  a  deeper  sympathy  with  the  op- 
pressed. Clarkson  and  Sharp  supplied  the  materials  which 
Wilberforce  and  Buxton  used  in  Parliament.  Through  their 
waitings  the  public  mind  was  instructed,  and  through  their  pub- 
lic addresses  it  had  already  become  excited ;  and  the  shameful 
persecution  of  the  missionary,  Smith,  who  was  sentenced  to 
death  by  the  planters  of  Demerara  for  an  alleged  participation 
in  an  insurrection,  greatly  inflamed  the  popular  hostility  to 
slavery.  The  anti-slavery  sentiment  which  had  already  found 
expression  in  a  resolution  by  Mr.  Canning,  in  1823,  declaring 
the  expediency  of  preparing  the  blacks  for  freedom,  rapidly  set- 
tled now  upon  the  doctrine  of  immediate  emancipation.  In 
1824,  O'Connell  and  Brougham  powerfully  enforced  this  view. 
The  French  Revolution  of  1830  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the 
progress  of  freedom,  when  the  cause  of  emancipation  was  again 
powerfully  aided  by  the  extreme  violence  of  the  Jamaica  plant- 
ers, in  suppressing  an  insurrection.  Many  hundreds  of  slaves 
were  put  to  death,  and  the  missionaries  who  were  instructing 
them  were  driven  to  the  mountains,  their  chapels  torn  down, 
and  themselves  hunted  and  banished.  Their  arrival  in  England 
greatly  excited  the  public  sentiment,  and  carried  it  forward  to 
such  a  pitch,  that,  to  avoid  a  decree  of  immediate  emancipa 


AND    REGISTER. 


175 


tion,  the  ministry  were  obliged  to  propose  a  gradual  one.  The 
bill  became  a  law  Aug.  28,  1833,  and  proposed  an  apprentice- 
ship which  should  last  for  six  years ;  but  this  was  ultimately 
found  impracticable,  and  on  the  1st  of  August,  1838,  negro 
slavery  finally  ceased  through  the  broad  empire  of  Great  Britain. 
This  consummation  has  been  happily  effected  without  violence 
or  blood, — has  been  followed  by  a  general  improvement  in  the 
character  and  condition  of  the  negro  population  which  it  en- 
franchised,— and  stands  a  lasting  monument  of  honor  to  the 
men  and  the  nation  who  consented  to  pay  1100,000,000  for  its 
peaceful  accomplishment.  Is  it  too  much  to  say  that  it  is  for 
such  purposes  as  these  that  so  great  a  portion  of  the  earth  has 
been  given  into  their  hands  ? 

Other  reforms  belong  to  this  period,  of  no  inferior  interest,  but 
our  limits  forbid  more  than  the  briefest  allusion  to  them.  In 
1848,  the  Corn  Laws  were  abolished,  after  a  prehminary  change 
some  years  before,  which  greatly  reduced  the  duties  on  the  im- 
portation of  provisions.  In  1849,  a  great  measure  for  the  re- 
hef  of  trade,  was  passed,  in  the  Free  Navigation  Act.  And 
still  the  public  mind  of  Britain  is  agitated  with  the  discussion 
of  reforms  of  which  it  yet  stands  in  urgent  need.  The  history 
of  the  past  fifty  years  is  unparalleled.  Never  before  have  re- 
forms so  great  been  so  peacefully  effected.  Never  before  have 
reforms  so  numerous  been  crowded  into  a  period  so  brief.  Never 
has  the  world  so  learned  the  value  of  the  right  of  free  discussion, 
and  the  power  of  peaceful  agitation.  Who  can  look  back  upon 
this  period,  without  tears  of  joy  for  all  the  justice  that  society 
has  rendered  to  the  oppressed,  and  all  the  rights  and  privileges 
that  humanity  has  won  ;  or,  without  mighty  and  thrilling  hopes 
for  the  achievements  of  future  years. 

Legal  reform  in  America  has  been  very  constantly  progressive. 
Many  of  our  States  have  revised,  since  the  present  century  be- 
gan, their  constitutions,  and  all  have  improved  their  laws.  One 
half  of  our  States  have  abolished  negro  slavery  ;  and  public 


176  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

sentiment  is  daily  giving  assurance  of  further  progress.  The 
great  State  of  New  York  has  been  a  pioneer  in  legal  improve- 
ments. The  severity  of  our  system  of  imprisonment  for  debt 
had  long  been  felt,  and  in  1831  it  was  abolished,  and  a  certain 
amount  of  property  declared  exempt  from  execution.  Contrary 
to  the  predictions  of  many  strenuous  opposers  of  the  measure,  it 
has  approved  itself  to  the  public  experience,  and  no  one  now  ad- 
vocates or  desires  a  return  to  our  former  system.  The  abolition 
has  been  imitated  in  almost  every  one  of  our  States. 

The  experience  of  the  happy  results  of  this  change  led  to  a 
farther  enactment,  in  1842,  exempting  an  additional  amount  of 
property — in  all  $150 — ^from  execution.  Advancing  yet  farther, 
the  public  mind  is  now  deliberating  on  a  homestead  exemption 
law,  which  will  permit  a  man  to  hold  his  residence  free  from 
legal  process  for  debt.  Such  a  law  was  passed  in  this  State, 
in  1850,  exempting  property  to  the  amount  of  $1,000  ;  and 
several  other  States  have  adopted  the  same  measure. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  of  these  changes,  however,  is  the 
adoption  of  the  new  constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in 
1846.  The  common  law  system  was  dear  to  the  people  of  this 
State,  whom  it  had  given  an  amount  of  freedom  and  security, 
such  as  no  community  on  earth  had  ever  surpassed.  But  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  State  crowded  its  courts  with  more  business 
than  they  could  possibly  adjudicate  ;  and  many  applications 
called  upon  the  Legislature  for  relief.  A  revision  of  the  con- 
stitution was  in  consequence  ordained,  without  which,  a  reor- 
ganization of  the  courts  was  not  possible ;  and  a  convention  was 
accordingly  summoned  for  this  purpose.  They  met  in  July, 
1846,  and  prepared  a  draft  of  a  constitution,  with  important 
provisions  for  legal  reform,  which  was  submitted  to  a  popular 
vote,  and  adopted,  in  the  November  following. 

The  constitution  provides  for  a  revision  and  simplification  of 
our  whole  law,  both  civil  and  criminal,  in  all  its  departments ; 
and  commissions  were  soon  appointed  to  execute  the  provision. 


AND    REGISTER.  l77 

Tbe  commission  on  the  code  of  procedure  has  reported  a  system 
which  is  ah-eady  in  operation.  It  embraces  two  codes — one  of 
civil,  the  other,  of  criminal  procedure  ;  and  inaugurates  methods 
which  are  believed  to  be  a  great  and  necessary  reform.  It  abol- 
ishes all  forms  of  declaration  in  commencing,  and  all  forms  of 
action  in  continuing,  a  suit ;  allows  no  more  pleas  of  delay,  and 
requires  only  a  simple  declaration  by  the  plaintiflf,  of  his  cause 
of  action,  and  of  the  remedy  he  seeks,  which  is  met  by  the 
speciSc  denial  of  the  defendant — both  verified  by  oath.  It 
abolishes  all  mere  forms  of  pleading,  and  blends  legal  and  equi- 
table jurisdiction  in  the  same  court, — all  which  are  pronounced, 
even  with  all  the  difficulties  of  a  new  system,  by  high  authority, 
desirable  reforms.  It  provides,  too,  for  an  examination  of  parties 
themselves,  in  civil  cases,  and  gives  a  summary  remedy  in  cases 
of  commercial  paper.  The  court  of  chancery  is  abolished  by 
the  constitution  itself. 

Besides  the  requirement  of  a  codification  of  the  law,  the 
constitution  makes  other  changes  of  a  most  important  character. 
It  forbids  the  creation  of  any  debt  of  magnitude  without  the 
consent  of  the  people  ;  appropriates  certain  branches  of  the 
public  revenue,  and  estabhshes  an  elective  judiciary, — changes 
which,  however  experience  may  decide  upon  them,  must  be  re- 
corded as  forming  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  constitutional  law. 

This  code  is  the  first  in  any  common  law  country,  and  is  sub- 
stantially original  and  independent  in  its  character.  It  adopts 
the  principle  of  courts  of  arbitration,  which  are  authorized  by 
the  constitution  itself.  It  has  already  been  adopted  in  Missouri, 
California,  and  Mississippi.  A  code  conformed  to  it  has  been 
reported  in  Kentucky,  Iowa,  Michigan,  and  Massachusetts  ;  and 
the  new  constitution  of  Ohio  and  Indiana  modelled  upon  that 
of  New  York,  tend  strongly  to  a  similar  result.  It  will  doubt- 
less have  an  important  ejflfect  in  harmonizing,  while  it  systema- 
tizes and  improves,  the  legislation  of  the  thirty-one  sovereign- 
ties  of  our  Union.    It  has  attracted  much  attention  among  that 

8* 


178  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

portion  of  the  British  bar  who  are  aiming  at  a  reform  in  their 
own  jurisprudence. 

This  brief  review  of  legal  history,  shows  an  unwonted  aspect 
of  the  subject.  Law,  formed  more  and  more  in  the  light  of 
public  discussion,  rests  now,  as  never  before,  upon  justice  and 
iyrnth.  How  must  it  educate  the  conscience  of  the  world  for 
all  acts  of  the  public  will,  to  disclaim  any  other  foundation  than 
that  of  absolute  right !  And  what  pledges  of  public  morality 
and  public  humanity  are  not  given  in  that  fact,  that  henceforth 
the  nations  of  the  earth  are  aiming  to  enact  and  enthrone  Justice  ! 


SECTION  II. 

THE    POST-OFFICE. 

Another  of  the  great  elements  and  interests  of  civilization 
which  has  taken  quite  a  new  form  within  our  period  is  the  Post- 
ofifice.  Itself  the  product  exclusively  of  the  modern  civilization, 
it  assumed  its  character  as  a  great  public  convenience,  first  in 
the  time  of  Cromwell ;  under  whose  administration  the  regular 
conveyance  of  a  public  mail  first  became  a  function  of  govern- 
ment. It  was  not  till  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  that 
the  magnitude  and  necessity  of  the  institution  became  generally 
apparent.  In  1728,  the  mail  travelled  once  a  fortnight  from 
London  to  Edinburgh,  occupying  ten  days  in  the  journey,  and 
bringing  sometimes  no  letters  but  those  which  related  to  the 
business  of  the  office.  By  the  end  of  that  century  the  mails 
departed  daily,  and  the  ten  days'  travel  had  diminished  to  three. 
The  yearly  revenue  at  the  beginning  of  this  century  was  about 
£85,000. 

From  this  period  it  has  grown  in  importance  and  in  pubhc 
estimation,  till  now  no  agency  of  government  is  more  universally 


AND    REGISTER.  179 

recognized  as  essential  to  the  public  welfare.  The  mail  routes 
were  extended  to  every  village  and  hamlet,  and  the  Post-oflBce 
receipts  formed  an  important  part  of  the  public  revenue.  The 
whole  receipts  were  in  1839,  £2,346,000;  from  which  the  gov- 
ernment obtained,  after  deducting  the  expense  of  management, 
the  sum  of  about  £1,500,000  annually. 

In  the  year  1837,  an  English  gentleman,  Mr.  Rowland  Hill, 
pubHshed  a  pamphlet  on  postage  reform,  in  which  the  advan- 
tages of  cheap  postage  were  suggested.  The  author  showed 
that  the  revenue  of  the  Post-oflBce  no  longer  increased  with  the 
increase  of  the  population  and  business  of  the  country,  and 
pointed  out  the  necessity  of  some  change. 

It  had  been  in  1815,  £1,557,291 ;  it  was  in  1835,  £1,540,300. 
Mr.  fiill  showed  that  while  the  duty  from  stage-coaches  had 
increased  128  per  cent.,  that  from  letters  had  undergone  no 
change  in  a  prosperous  period  of  twenty  years.  The  contra- 
band conveyance  of  letters  was  found  to  be  from  six  to  twenty 
fold  that  of  the  mail  in  many  parts  of  the  kingdom. 

The  suggestion  thus  made  produced  a  strong  impression  on 
the  public  mind.  In  three  months  a  petition  in  favor  of  it  was 
presented  to  Parliament  signed  by  a  large  number  of  the  busi- 
ness men  of  London ;  and  the  Society  for  the  Diflfusion  of 
Knowledge  urged  the  reform  upon  the  Lords  of  the  Treasury. 
A  committee  was  appointed  by  the  House  of  Commons,  which 
gave  the  subject  a  thorough  examination  in  a  laborious  session 
of  sixty-three  days.  Their  report  was  published  in  1838,  and 
the  number  of  petitioners  soon  rose  to  262,000.  The  pubhc 
mind  of  the  nation  set  so  high  a  value  upon  the  proposed  re- 
form, that  members  of  the  government  who  deemed  it  impossi- 
ble for  the  Post-office  to  support  itself  with  the  reduced  rates, 
consented  to  the  change  as  a  matter  of  political  necessity,  and 
consented  to  forego  a  clear  revenue  of  one  million  and  a  quarter 
in  order  to  eflfect  it.  On  the  10th  of  January,  1840,  the  new 
system  went  into  operation.     One  of  the  most  beneficent  changes 


180  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

of  modern  times  was  successfully  inaugurated  in  three  years  from 
the  day  of  its  first  suggestion. 

The  system  now  introduced  was  distinguished  by  great  sim- 
plicity and  economy.  As  the  average  cost  of  transporting  a  let- 
ter was  found  to  be  only  the  ninth  part  of  a  farthing,  the  idea 
of  graduating  the  price  by  the  distance  was  abandoned ;  and 
the  great  principle  substituted  of  a  uniform  rate  of  \d.  for  all 
letters  of  a  certain  weight.  Letters  not  prepaid  were  charged 
double  ;  and  facilities  of  prepayment  are  afforded  by  the  sale  of 
free  stamps  in  the  forms  of  labels,  envelopes,  and  wrappers.  All 
privileges  of  any  particular  classes  of  persons,  in  the  mails,  were 
abohshed.  To  promote  still  farther  the  public  convenience,  the 
Post-oflBce  was  authorized  to  sell  money  orders  of  a  value  not 
greater  than  £5,  for  which  a  small  commission  was  charged. 
Nothing  can  exceed  the  public  convenience  of  these  simple  pro- 
visions. 

Under  this  system,  the  letters  have  risen  in  number  almost 
incredibly.  In  the  last  year  of  the  old  system  they  were 
80,000,000,  the  next  year  170,000,000,  and  in  1848,  they  had 
risen  to  350,000,000.  The  net  income  which  in  1839  was 
£1,646,554,  fell  to  £447,664  under  the  new  law.  It  has 
steadily  increased  with  the  increase  of  the  mails  to  about 
£750,000  in  1848.  But  though  not  pecuniarily  useful  to  the 
government,  the  measure  has  been  unspeakably  advantageous 
to  the  people  for  every  purpose  of  science,  intercourse,  business, 
and  social  improvement. 

The  success  of  this  radical  and  beneficent  change,  which  con- 
verts a  public  burden  into  a  public  privilege,  early  attracted  at- 
tention in  our  own  country.  The  difficulty  of  maintaining  our 
post-office  system  by  our  postage  receipts  was  constantly  increas- 
ing with  the  rapid  multiplication  of  distant  routes  through  the 
newer  portions  of  the  country,  which  increased  at  an  average 
rate  of  450  miles  per  annum.  At  length  it  became  apparent 
that  something  must  be  done,  and  several  able  and  earnest 


AND    REGISTER.  181 

writers  urged  the  subj'^ct  upon  the  government  and  the  public. 
The  routes  which  in  1832  amounted  to  9,205,000  miles,  liad 
reached  in  ten  years  13,778,000;  and  the  expenses  within  the 
same  period  rose  from  $2,266,000  to  $4,413,000,  nearly  double 
the  former  amount.  The  high  rates  of  postage  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  many  private  mails  between  our  principal  cities ; 
which,  carrying  at  very  low  rates,  and  with  great  speed  and 
certainty,  absorbed  a  great  portion  of  the  revenue  on  what  had 
been  the  most  productive  routes.  In  1844,  these  circumstances 
compelled  the  attention  of  the  government,  and  a  highly  useful 
though  very  imperfect  measure  of  reform  was  carried  through 
Congress.  As  first  proposed,  it  established  a  uniform  rate  of 
five  cents,  without  resj^ect  to  distance ;  but  this  provision  was 
altered  in  the  House,  and  a  double  rate  imposed  on  all  letters 
carried  more  than  300  miles.  It  reduced,  however,  the  average 
rate  of  postage  from  15  cents  to  7-^ ;  and  established  the  capi- 
tal principle  of  charging  letters  by  weight,  instead  of  by  the 
number  of  pieces. 

Unsatisfactory  to  all  who  valued  the  philosophical  beauty  and 
efliciency  of  the  English  system,  our  own  could  scarce  be  regarded 
otherv/ise  than  as  an  experiment  in  the  right  direction,  which 
must  after  a  short  time  give  place  to  a  system  that  affords 
the  amplest  facilities  that  government  can  yield  to  the  inter- 
course of  the  people.  When  letters  of  affection  and  friendship 
— letters  of  business  and  science — letters  of  benevolent  enter 
prise  became  multiplied  four-fold  through  our  extended  bor- 
ders, it  was  inevitable  that  yet  another  link  should  be  added  to 
the  bonds  which  make  us  one  people. 

Accordingly,  Congress  went  one  step  farther  in  its  session  of 
1850-51,  and  decided  that  the  prepaid  postage  on  letters  weigh- 
ing not  more  than  half  an  ounce,  shall  be,  after  July  1,  1851, 
three  cents  for  any  distance  less  than  3000  miles,  and  six  cents 
to  any  place  more  distant ;  and  that  unprepaid  postage  shall  be 
five  cents  for  any  distance  within  3000  miles,  and  ten  cents  to 
places  more  remote. 


182  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 


SECTION  III. 

MECHANIC    ARTS. 

The  general  history  of  the  industrial  arts  during  this  period 
is  far  too  comprehensive  to  be  compressed  into  the  hmits  of  such 
a  sketch  as  this.  We  can  only  allude  to  a  few  of  its  more 
prominent  characteristics. 

Among  these  the  wide  introduction  of  machinery  into  indus- 
trial operations  is  a  very  conspicuous  circumstance.  In  every 
department  of  labor,  mechanical  forces  have  been  substituted  for 
human  hands ;  and  machinery  has  been  invented  and  adopted 
for  the  application  of  them. 

The  only  agents  yet  extensively  applied  in  this  way  are  water 
power  and  steam.  The  application  of  these  however  has  now 
become  very  general,  and  indeed  for  certain  great  purposes 
almost  universal.  Since  the  perfection  of  the  steam-engine  by 
Watt,  it  has  been  used  more  and  more  extensively — and  for 
mechanical  operations  of  the  most  diverse  kinds  ;  while  in  some 
parts  of  our  country  the  cheaper  power  of  running  water  has 
caused  every  little  waterfall  to  be  pressed  into  the  service  of 
human  industry.  At  present  the  whole  body  of  the  textile 
fabrics,  which  employ  so  much  labor  in  the  manufacture  of 
woollen  and  cotton  goods  are  woven  by  such  agencies — acting 
through  the  power  loom,  the  spinning-jenny,  and  other  similar 
inventions.  The  result  is  an  immense  production — an  unlooked- 
for  perfection,  and  a  wonderful  cheapness  of  such  fabrics. 

A  similar  change  has  come  over  the  manufacture  of  many 
other  products  of  industry.  The  ivory  comb — the  carpet  tack — 
the  metaUic-card  for  cotton  and  wool — the  common  nail — even 
the  pin,  so  long  proverbial  for  the  illustration  which  it  furnished 
of  the  nice  division  and  adjustment  of  labor — are  with  the  thou- 


AND    REGISTER.  183 

sand  other  minute  conveniences  of  social  life  and  of  industry 
manufactured  in  endless  quantity  by  the  turn  of  a  wheel. 

In  every  branch  of  labor  similar  expedients  are  employed  to 
aid  the  operations  of  human  hands.  In  every  workshop 
machinery  accomplishes  some  portion  of  the  toil,  from  the  pon- 
derous trip-hammer  which  forges  the  massive  shaft  of  a  steamer, 
to  the  delicate  arrangement  which  stamps  and  slits  the  pen  with 
which  we  write.  Even  the  primitive  toil  of  agriculture  takes  a 
new  efficiency,  and  a  new  interest,  from  the  novel  and  numerous 
implements  which  now  diversify  its  labors,  and  multiply  its 
rewards.  The  invention  of  machinery  is  already  one  of  the 
highest  achievements  of  human  ingenuity  ;  and  the  manufacture 
of  it  one  of  the  most  extended  branches  of  profitable  industry. 

What  other  motive  powers  another  generation  may  dis- 
cover— whether  the  lightning  of  heaven  shall  stoop  to  labor,  and 
the  ocean's  swelling  tides  be  subdued  to  the  use  of  man,  is 
beyond  conjecture;  but  society  is  fast  changing  in  both  its 
spirit,  and  its  form,  under  the  influence  of  the  mechanical 
agencies  we  already  possess.  The  inventor  takes  higher  rank  in 
society  since  Watt,  and  Arkwright,  and  Fulton,  and  Whitney 
have  lived.  The  wide  extension  of  industry,  and  the  vast 
accumulation  of  capital  consequent  upon  their  labors,  have  given 
us  new  views  of  the  importance  to  society  of  stability,  good 
government,  and  freedom.  The  vast  and  rich  commerce  of  our 
age  has  taught  men  new  lessons  of  the  wastefulness  and  un- 
profitableness of  war,  and  the  incalculable  advantages  of  peace. 
Labor  itself,  so  long  despised  as  the  fit  occupation  only  of  slaves, 
has  become  honorable  when  vigorously  and  generously  directed 
by  intelligent  minds  to  the  great  interests  of  society. 

This  great  multiplication  of  manufactured  products  stands 
connected  with  an  equal  extension  of  industry  in  two  other 
directions.  On  the  one  hand,  commercial  arrangements  of  great 
scope  are  required  to  diffuse,  and  dispose  of  them  ;  on  the  other, 
agricultural  labors  of  equal  magnitude  must  provide  both  the 


184  CHRISTIAN    RJ^ROSPECT 

raw  material  of  the  manufacture,  nnd  the  food  of  the  workman. 
It  is  in  Great  Britain  and  in  our  own  country  that  these  changes 
are  most  deeiued,  and  here  accordingly  we  must  look  for  their 
eflects.  It  appears  that  in  the  last  year  the  former  nation 
employed  in  her  traffic  with  the  world  33,672  sailing  vessels  and 
1,110  steam  vessels,  with  an  aggregate  tonnage  of  4,000,000. 
The  number  of  seamen  employed  was  236,000.  Calculating  the 
value  of  each  vessel  as  it  was  estimated  before  Parliament  at 
£5,000,  the  capital  thus  invested  amounts  to  £174,000,000. 
The  quantity  of  cotton  manufactured  in  1800,  was  56,000,000 
lbs.;  this  has  increased  in  1850  to  775,000,000,  more  than 
1200  per  cent. 

The  other  circumstance  to  which  we  referred — the  stimulus 
of  agriculture  for  the  supply  of  the  raw  material,  is  chiefly 
exemplified  in  the  cotton  cultivation  of  the  Southern  States  of 
our  Union,  wbich  began  to  assume  some  importance  about  the 
commencement  of  this  century.  The  sea  island  cotton  was  first 
brought  to  public  notice  about  1789. 

Under  the  growing  influence  of  this  system  of  manufactures 
the  crop  has  continually  and  steadily  increased.  The  average 
of  five  years  gives  for  this  crop  the  following  results  : — 

From  1825  to  1830  .  .  .  848,000  bales  per  annum. 

"      1830    "  1835  .  .  .  1,075,000  "           " 

"      1835    "  1840  .  .  .  1,475,000  "          " 

"      1840   "  1845  .  .  .  2,037,000  "          " 

"      1845    "  1850  .  .  .  2,351,000  "          " 

Of  the  crop  of  1849,  cotton  was  exported  to  the  value  of 
$66,000,000. 

Out  of  this  extension  of  manufacturing  industry  some  of  the 
highest  social  and  moral  questions  of  our  day  have  arisen. 
Great  marts  spring  up,  of  commerce,  or  of  production ;  vast 
populations  gather  in  a  limited  space  ;  the  moral  influence  in 
such  communities  is  often  far  behind  the  wants  of  the  popula- 


AND    REGISTER.  185 

tion,  especially  if  they  hare  grown  up  with  great  rapidity ;  and 
jDubiic  necessities  arise,  of  educational  and  religious  instruction — ■ 
of  social  and  domestic  arrangements — which  call  into  requisition 
all  the  knowledge,  and  skill,  and  benevolence  of  the  age  to 
supply  them.  The  wide  agricultural  diffusion,  too,  of  which  we 
have  spoken,  brings  up  similar  new  and  important  aspects  of 
social  and  religious  questions.  Thus  the  extension  of  the  cotton 
cultivation  has  widely  enlarged  the  area,  and  increased  the  in- 
fluence, of  the  early  slave  sj'stem  of  our  country  ;  and  given  to 
that  institution  an  industrial  importance  and  a  pecuniary  value, 
which  are  at  the  bottom  of  all  the  painful  dissensions  which  now 
agitate  the  country  upon  that  subject.  The  slave  population 
which  is  engaged  in  this  wide  cultivation  has  risen  to  3,070,000  ; 
while  the  emigrant  population  of  the  northern  states  increases 
by  fully  300,000  annually. 

It  is  gratifying  to  know,  that,  rapid  as  is  the  growth  of  popu- 
lation, both  in  these  crowded  haunts  and  over  these  wide  areas, 
the  multiphcation  of  the  intellectual  and  rehgious  agencies, 
which  are  to  cultivate  and  sanctify  men,  is  yet  greater.  In 
Great  Britain,  for  instance,  the  population  has  increased  within 
fifty  years  from  11,000,000  to  20,000,000,— almost  double. 
The  children  in  the  schools  of  that  country  have  increased  from 
500,000  to  2,000,000,  four-fold,  exclusive  of  2,000,000  of  schol- 
ars in  their  Sunday-schools.  The  number  of  stamped  news- 
papers,— which  affords  a  very  fair  test  of  the  spread  of  popular 
intelligence, — ^has  risen  from  16,000,000,  in  1801,  to  72,000,000 
in  1850, — more  than  four-fold.  A  yet  greater  ratio  than  this 
would  be  required  to  express  the  increase  of  institutions  for  the 
preservation  and  the  improvement  of  the  means,  the  morality, 
the  health,  the  comfort,  the  instruction  of  the  mass  of  society. 

In  the  United  States  a  similar  state  of  things  exists  in  a  yet 
more  marked  degree.  Education  has  become  far  more  general, 
public  morality  has  on  the  whole  improved,  public  intelligence 
has  incrftosed  the  multiDlication  of  religious  and  benevolent  in- 


186  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

stitutions  has  been  imexarnpled.  The  Sunday  School  Union  has 
spread  elementaiy  and  rehgious  instruction  over  the  wide  West, 
Home  Missionaries — a  thousand  of  whom  have  been  sustained 
year  after  year  by  a  single  Society — have  carried  the  Gospel 
through  all  the  newer  and  more  destitute  portions  of  the  coun- 
try. Religious  publications  constitute  now  a  far  greater  pro- . 
portion  of  the  annual  issues  of  the  press  than  ever  before,  while 
three  million  of  members  of  evangelical  churches, — forming  a 
larger  proportion  of  the  population  than  at  any  previous  period, 
— attest  the  inherent  efficiency,  and  the  Divine  acceptance  of 
these  extended  labors. 

Two  recent  and  remarkable  structures  will  serve  to  illustrate 
the  peculiar  character,  the  degree  of  perfection,  and  the  public 
estimation  of  the  mechanic  arts  of  our  day.  One  of  these  is  the 
Brittannia  bridge,  near  the  original  iron  structure  over  the 
Menai  Straits.  Like  its  predecessor,  it  is  entirely  of  iron,  but  it 
diflfers  from  every  other  in  the  singular  novelty  of  its  form.  It 
is  a  square  tube,  made  of  plates  of  wrought  iron  rivetted  to- 
gether, and  has  a  double  roof  designed  to  resist  the  pressure  by 
which  the  weight  of  such  a  structure,  when  supported  only  at 
the  ends,  tends  to  crush  in  its  upper  surface.  It  spans  in  one 
compact  tube  distances  of  460  feet,  and  sustains  the  passage  of 
a  loaded  train  of  cars,  weighing  248  tons,  without  suffering  a 
depression  from  the  enormous  weight  of  more  than  two  thirds 
of  an  inch.  Two  such  spans,  together  with  a  smaller  one  of 
half  the  length  at  each  end  and  the  approaches,  make  •  its  total 
length  1841  feet.  Portions  of  this  immense  tube,  4Y2  feet  long, 
were  constructed  on  a  scaffolding  below,  and,  weighing  1600 
tons,  were  raised  102  feet  over  a  rapid  stream,  and  united  at 
that  elevation. 

The  other  great  example  of  the  mechanics  of  our  own  age  is 
the  Crystal  Palace,  the  edifice  designed  to  receive  the  products 
sent  forward  for  exhibition  at  the  World's  Fair,  which  is  to  open 
in  London,  in  May  of  the  present  year.     It  is  constructed  of 


AND    REGISTER.  187 

two  substances  exclusively,  neither  of  which,  until  within  twenty- 
years,  had  been  used  in  the  structure  of  any  edifice, — iron  and 
glass.  Its  length  in  feet  indicates  the  year  when  it  was  proposed, — ^ 
1848.  A  transept  108  feet  high  divides  it  into  two  equal  parts, 
and  encloses  a  row  of  large  trees.  Its  width,  408  feet,  gives  it 
an  area  of  eighteen  acres,  which  marks  it  as  the  largest  edifice 
ever  constructed  for  any  purpose.  Its  arrangements  for  drainage 
and  ventilation  are  ample  and  admirable.  In  this  extraordinary 
specimen  of  the  modern  architecture,  the  choicest  products  of 
the  world's  industry  are  to  be  exhibited  to  the  world's  inspec- 
tion, and  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe  are  already  sending 
forward  their  contributions.  What  prevalence  of  peace, — what 
perfection  of  arts, — what  appreciation  of  industry, — what  com- 
pleteness of  communications, — what  universal  confidence  in  the 
good  faith  of  the  suggestion,  must  concur  to  the  accomplishment 
of  a  design  hke  this  ! 

Important  improvements  have  been  made  in  all  that  relates 
to  that  highest  of  all  arts,  the  art  of  printing.  The  manufacture 
of  paper  has  undergone  essential  changes.  The  enlarged  pro- 
duction of  cotton  has  supplied  unlimited  material,  and  the  pa- 
per, instead  of  being  laboriously  formed  by  dipping  frames  for 
each  sheet,  streams  from  a  vat  in  the  fluid  state,  forms  itself 
into  an  endless  sheet,  is  dried  upon  steam-heated  cylinders,  and 
is  at  once  ready  for  the  press.  The  use  of  stereotype  plates,  in- 
troduced in  1795,  has  become  exceedingly  common.  All  stand- 
ard works  of  literature,  all  approved  school-books,  and  many 
other  works,  especially  on  the  subject  of  religion,  are  immensely 
stereotyped. 

The  use  of  steam  power  for  printing  has  greatly  aided  the 
muJtiphcation  of  books.  While  the  common  hand  press  gives 
250  impressions  per  hour,  the  London  Times  has  been  printed 
by  steam,  since  1814,  at  the  rate  of  4000  impressions  per  hour. 
More  recently  other  inventors,  among  whom  Mr.  Hoe,  of  New 
York,  is  conspicuous,  have  greatly  exceeded  even  this  limit,  and 


188  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

presses  are  now  built  that  print  from  cylinders  at  the  rate  of 
12,000, — and,  even  it  is  alleged,  20,000  per  hour.  Our  great 
newspaper  issues  are  brought  out  by  these  means. 

What  elements  of  power  are  here  entrusted  to  us !  These 
arts  of  printing  that  multiply  the  Word  of  God  hterally  with 
every  minute, — these  accumulations  of  capital  still  active,  still 
accumulating, — these  means  of  communication  over  sea  and 
land, — through  the  broad  earth, — who  does  not  hear  the  voice 
of  God  in  all  these  ?  That  voice  which  said,  "  Go  teach  all 
nations,"  and  which  furnished  languages  and  gifts  to  the  mes- 
sengers it  chose,  is  it  not  speaking  to  us  in  all  the  gifts  with 
which  we  are  endowed  ?'  And,  as  we  are  coming  in  contact 
•with  the  broad  tide  of  human  life  the  world  over,  and  must 
communicate,  whether  we  will  or  not,  of  our  civilization  to  their 
barbarism,  is  it  not  our  duty  thoughtfully  to  dedicate  these  vast 
endowments  to  the  high  claims  of  Heaven,  and  the  spiritual 
interests  of  men,  and  sow  broadcast  the  seed  which  shall  spring 
up  and  bear  its  fruit  to  life  eternal  ? 


PART   IL 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE     ENLARGEMENT    OF    CHRISTENDOM     DURING    THE 
FIRST   HALF   OF   THE   XIXTH   CENTURY. 

The  growth  (if  we  may  use  the  word)  of  Christendom,  during 
any  period  in  the  History  of  the  Christian  Religion,  is  an  inter- 
esting subject  of  inquiry  and  of  study.  But  in  no  period  has  it 
been  more  so,  since  the  earhest  centuries  of  the  Christian  era, 
than  during  the  half  century  which  has  just  terminated.  Let 
us  look  at  it  in  detail,  premising,  however,  that  the  growth  of 
Christendom  has  respect  not  only  to  territorial  enlargement, 
but  also,  and  especially,  to  the  increase  of  population,  civiliza- 
tion, science,  commerce,  military  power, — in  a  word,  to  every- 
thing that  gives  one  portion  of  the  world,  or  of  the  human  race, 
influence  over  the  rest. 

SECTION  I. 

THE    EASTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

Europe. — Of  the  three  continents  which  belong  to  the  East- 
ern Hemisphere,  Europe  is  the  most  under  the  influence  of 
Christianity. 


190  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

The  population  of  Europe  cannot  be  less  than  two  hundred 
and  fifty  millions.  Of  these,  if  we  estimate  the  number  of 
Mohammedans  in  Turkey  (in  Europe)  and  Russia  to  be 
6,250,000,  that  of  the  Jews  to  be  3,000,000,  and  that  of  the 
Pagans*  to  be  750,000,  we  shall  have  two  hundred  and  forty 
millions  who  profess  the  Christian  religion,  under  one  denomi- 
nation or  another. 

There  has  been  no  territorial  enlargement  of  Christendom  in 
Europe  during  the  last  fifty  years,  but  a  decided  increase  of  the 
population,  and  of  all  the  resources  which  constitute  power  and 
confer  influence.  The  great  Christian  nations — England  and 
Prussia  (Protestant),  France  and  Austria  (Roman  Catholic),  and 
Russia  (Greek) — have  wonderfully  advanced  in  civilization  and 
strength  within  this  period  ;  whilst  Turkey,  the  only  govern- 
ment not  Christian,  has  remained  stationary,  if  she  has  not  ret- 
rograded. In  most  nations  there  has  been  a  vast  increase  of 
population  and  material  wealth  ;  whilst  in  some, — such  as  Spain, 
Portugal,  and  Italy — this  advance  has  not  been  so  manifest. 
Upon  the  whole,  the  Europe  of  1850  was  greatly  superior  in 
all  that  constitutes  progress  to  Europe  of  1800.  And  this  ad- 
vance is  steady  as  well  as  marked.  The  steamboat,  the  rail- 
road, and  the  electric  telegraph,  are  great  exponents  of  that 
progress,  and  among  the  many  fruits  of  it. 

Asia. — Russia  possesses  and  governs  the  northern  end  of 
Asia,  or  Siberia,  (as  it  is  more  frequently  called,)  including  more 
than  a  fourth  part  of  that  continent.  And  although  heathen- 
ism and  Mohammedanism  prevail  greatly  among  the  inhabi- 

*  There  is  a  considerable  number  of  Pagans  in  the  south-eastern  parts 
of  Russia  in  Europe.  In  the  same  category  the  Nomadic  and  very  sin- 
gular race  called  the  Gipsies,  must,  for  the  most  part,  be  placed.  Their 
number  is  not  known  with  certainty,  but  is  supposed  to  exceed  half  a 
million.  In  some  countries,  a  portion  of  them  profess  to  be  Christians, 
but  the  number  of  those  who  have  much  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  is 
very  small. 


AND    RE^blSTER.  191 

tants,  we  apprehend  that  at  least  a  nominal  Christianity  is  grad- 
ually gaining  ground,  partly  by  imnaigration,  partly  by  the 
natural  increase  of  the  Russian  population  in  that  vast,  and  for 
the  most  part,  very  inhospitable  region. 

And  whilst  Russia  has  extended  her  sway  over  the  northern 
end  of  Asia,  England  has  possession  of  the  southern  end,  with 
one  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of  inhabitants,  among  whom 
Christianity,  under  her  shield,  is  making  sensible  progress,  and 
Hindoo  forms  of  heathenism  losing  their  hold  upon  the  minds 
of  the  people,  especially  of  the  better  educated  classes. 

And  although  England  has  not  yet  gained  any  territorial 
possessions  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia,  she  has  compelled 
China  to  open  to  her  commerce  and  to  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  five  important  ports,  through  which  European  civilization 
and  Christianity  will  find  an  entrance  into  that  great  but  almost 
unknown  empire. 

Africa. — Christendom  begins  also  to  include  portions  of 
Africa. 

England  has  possession  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  as  the 
southern  end  of  that  continent  is  called.  She  is  planting  colo- 
nies along  the  north-eastern  coast,  towards  the  Mozambique 
Channel.  As  has  happened  elsewhere,  her  colonies  are  coming 
into  deadly  conflict  with  Kaffirs  and  other  indigenous  tribes ; 
nor  can  the  issue  be  doubtful.  Civilization  will  enable  avarice 
to  gain  the  ascendency  over  barbarous  men.  Alas !  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  cases,  Christianity  will  follow  after,  instead 
of  leading  the  way,  and  by  her  happy  influences  prevent  extir- 
pation. Just  as  certainly  as  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has 
dispossessed  the  aboriginies  of  much  of  their  Great  Domain  in 
the  United  States,  and  will  take  possession,  by  extirpation  or 
fusion^  of  the  remainder,  will  the  same  race  take  possession  of 
all  Southern  Africa  1  The  recent  discoveries  made  by  mission- 
aries and  others  in  that  country,  tend  to  demonstrate  that  it 
must  be,  in  its  interior,  a  very  beautiful  and  fertile  one — a  coun- 


192  CHRISTIAN    UETROSPECT 

try  of  hills  and  valleys,  of  inountains  and  plains,  of  extensive  and 
charming  lakes,  of  pleasant  streamlets  and  majestic  rivers. 

Whilst  England  is  extending  her  possessions  in  the  south, 
France  is  desirous  of  gaining  possession  of  some  of  the  best 
portions  of  the  north,  and  has  already  established  herself  between 
Mount  Atlas  and  the  sea.  And  although  she  is  far  from  having 
yet  colonized  the  entire  of  Algeria,  who  can  tell  how  soon  she 
may  resolve  to  seize  the  whole  Mediterranean  coast,  from  the 
Nile  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules? 

At  the  same  time  colonies  of  civilized  negroes  are  planting 
under  American  and  British  auspices,  from  the  Gaboon  to  Sierra 
Leone,  on  the  western  coast — the  first  of  a  line  which  will  one 
day  adorn  that  entire  coast,  with  fiourishing  cities^  thriving  vil- 
lages^ and  cultivated  fields.  In  this  way,  Christianity  will  in- 
vade the  western  side  of  Africa,  and  bring  it  also  within  the 
pale  of  Christendom. 

The  Islands  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere. — South-east  of  Asia 
lies  an  immense  group  of  islands,  many  of  them  very  small. 
England  owns  that  which  bears  the  name  of  Singapore,  and 
several  small  ones  which  lie  near  by.  But  Holland  owns, — at 
least  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  European  claimants, — the 
magnificent  islands  of  Sumatra  and  Java,  together  with  half  the 
great  island  of  Borneo,  and  sundry  small  ones  adjacent.  These 
vast  insular  possessions  bear  the  name  of  Asiatic  Archipelago^ 
and  sometimes  that  of  Netherlands-India.  In  these  islands 
there  is  already  a  considerable  European  population — nominally 
Christian,  for  the  most  part  Protestant,  and  constantly  increas- 
ing. Thus  the  way  is  preparing  for  the  entrance  of  the  pure 
Gospel,  and  a  great  enlargement  of  Christendom  is  going  for- 
ward in  that  direction. 

Farther  south,  in  the  same  vast  oceanic  domain,  lie  the  islands 
of  New  Holland,  Van  Diemen's  Land,  New  Guinea,  New  Zea- 
land, and  many  others  which  constitute  what  is  now  commonly 
called  Australasia.     Of  this  vast  Archipelago,  New  Holland  is 


A^"D    REGISTER.  193 

by  for  the  largest,  and  has  an  extent  almost  equal  to  that  of 
Europe.  England  claims  this  great  island,  and  her  colonies  on 
the  eastern  and  southern  coasts,  contain  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants.  Flourishing  villages,  towns  and  even 
cities  are  springing  up,  whose  early  population  was  chiefly  com- 
posed of  convicts  banished  from  England.  Extensive  English 
colonies  also  exist  in  Van  Diemen's  Land,  as  well  as  in  New 
Zealand.  England,  in  fact,  looks  upon  this  whole  archipelago 
as  in  some  sense  hers,  and  an  Anglo-Saxon  race,  Christian,  and 
in  the  main  Protestant,  will  one  day  have  the  entire  possession 
of  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  almost  innumerable,  but,  for  the  most 
part,  small  islands  in  the  great  Pacific  Ocean  between  Asia  and 
the  two  groups  or  archipelagos  just  named,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  continents  of  North  and  South  America  on  the  other, 
— which  bear  the  euphonious  name  of  Polynesia, — have  been 
objects  of  great  missionary  interest  during  the  last  fifty  years, 
and  Christianity  is  gaining  a  foot-hold  in  them.  This  is  partic- 
ularly the  case  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the  Society  Islands,  the 
Fegee  Islands,  and  many  others.  In  the  extensive  group  called 
The  Philippines, — for  the  most  part  belonging  to  Spain, — 
Christianity,  not  however  of  a  high  character,  has  a  wide  prev- 
alence. But  these  islands  are  commonly  reckoned  to  belong  to 
the  Asiatic  archipelago. 

It  will  be  seen,  from  this  statement,  that  the  insular  extension 
of  Christendom  has  been  great  during  the  first  half  of  the  XlXth 
century,  and  the  foundations  have  been  laying  for  a  wide  spread 
of  the  Christian  rehgion  in  that  direction. 

Thus  much  for  the  growth  of  Christianity  in  the  Old  World 
during  the  last  fifty  years :  let  us  now  turn  our  attention  to  the 
New. 

9 


194  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 


SECTION  II. 

THE    WESTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

In  Nortli  America,  Christianity  lias  enlarged  her  domain 
greatly,  within  fifty  years,  by  the  colonization  of  the  immense 
western  districts  of  the  United  States,  and  the  vast  increase  of 
the  population  of  the  country,  which  has  augmented  from  less 
than  5,000,000  to  23,138,000. 

The  broad  wave  of  population  rolls  steadily  onward  from  the 
Atlantic  States  towards  the  West.  At  the  epoch  of  the  Revo- 
lution, (1775-83,)  it  had  scarcely  transcended  the  Alleghany 
range  of  mountains.  It  has  since  spread  over  the  eastern  side 
of  the  Q^reat  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  where  it  has  already 
created  fourteen  States  and  two  Territories,  with  a  population 
of  more  than  eight  millions.  It  has  been  calculated  that  this 
grand  movement  of  colonization  and  civilization  makes  the  ave- 
rage rate  of  seventeen  miles  per  annum !  The  immensely  ex- 
tonded  column  is  pursuing  its  westward  way  towards  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Even  now  there  are  not  much  less  than  two  hun- 
dred thousand  inhabitants,  possessing  the  manners  and  the  arts 
of  civilized  life,  on  the  Pacific  coast,  in  California  and  Oregon. 
The  foundations  of  great  States  are  now  laying  in  these  vast  west- 
ern districts  of  our  immense  country,  where  five  years  ago  in  the 
former,  and  ten  in  the  latter  there  was  scarcely  an  American  to 
be  found. 

But  these  extreme  western  commonwealths,  at  whose  feet  the 
broad  Pacific  rolls  and  dashes,  will  contain  a  mixed  race — 
Americans,  emigrants  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  and  natives  of 
the  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  is  probable  also, — or,  rath- 
er, we  should  say,  quite  certain—  that  there  will  be  a  vast  im- 
migration to  those  shores  from  eastern  and  south-eastern  Asia ! 
And  what  a  wide  door  will  this  open  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel, 


AND    REGISTER.  195 

and  for  the  extension  of  Christendom  in  that  direction  !     And 
who  can  predict  the  results  which  are  to  flow  from  all  this? 

A  similar,  but  not  equal  increase,  has  taken  place  in  the  Brit- 
ish Provinces,  north  of  the  United  States,  where  the  population 
has  greatly  augmented  within  fifty  years,  especially  in  Canada- 
West  and  New  Brunswick. 

There  has  been  a  decided  increase  in  the  population  of  Mex- 
ico, Central  America,  South  America,  and  the  West  Indies. 
This  increase  has  not  been  uniform.  AVhilst  it  has  been  steady 
and  not  very  rapid  in  Mexico,  it  has  been  great  in  Brazil,  and 
even  remarkable  in  Chili  and  some  of  the  other  South  American 
States.  The  domain  of  Heathenism  in  South  America  has, 
doubtless,  decreased  during  the  last  fifty  years.  Nevertheless, 
the  enlargement  of  Christendom  in  the  Southern  as  well  as  the 
Northern  Continent  of  this  Western  Hemisphere,  during  that 
period,  has  arisen  mainly  from  the  growth  of  the  civihzed  na- 
tions of  European  origin. 

With  the  exception  of  the  extensive,  but  sparsely  peopled 
regions  north  of  the  British  Provinces  and  west  of  those  Prov- 
inces and  of  the  United  States,  still  occupied  by  the  Aborigines, 
the  entire  North  American  Continent  may  be  said  to  be  Chris- 
tian, so  far  as  the  religion  which  is  professed  is  in  question. 

And  with  the  exception  of  the  middle  and  extreme  portions 
of  South  America,  all  that  continent  is  to  be  considered  as  a 
portion  of  Christendom. 

Including  the  Danish  Provinces  in  the  North-east,  and  the 
Russian  in  the  North-west, — the  former  having,  it  is  estimated, 
6500  inhabitants,  and  the  latter  6000, — the  entire  population 
of  North  America  down  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  of  a  Euro- 
pean origin  and  professedly  Christian,  is  35,563,768. 

That  of  South  America,  excepting  the  central  and  extreme 
southern  portions — occupied  by  Pagan  tribes — is  16,246,000. 
Whilst  the  population  of  the  West  India  Islands  is  believed  to 
be  3,549,512. 


196  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

The  entire  nonnnally  Christian  popuhition  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere  is,  therefore,  55,359,280. 

It  would  be  far  within  the  boundaries  of  strict  accuracy  to 
say,  that  this  is  twice  as  great  as  the  nominally  Christian  popu- 
lation of  this  hemisphere  was  in  the  year  1800.  We  do  not 
know  the  number  of  people  of  the  American  hemisphere  that 
are  Pagans,  but  it  can  hardly  be  five  millions.  That  of  the 
Jews  may  be  one  hundred  thousand. 

It  appears  from  this  statement,  that  Christendom  now  in- 
cludes, with  some  exceptions  of  no  great  magnitude,  three  of 
the  five  great  continents,  the  largest  and  most  populous  islands, 
and  also  some  important  portions  and  points  of  the  other  two 
continents.  A  great  amount  of  this  extension  took  place  dur- 
ing the  first  half  of  the  XlXth  century  ;  and  the  prospect  of 
further  extension  during  the  remaining  half,  is  certainly  most 
encouraging,  especially  in  North  America,  in  the  Insular  world, 
and  in  Asia  and  Africa. 

ANOTHER    VIEW. 

The  population  of  the  world  is  estimated  by  M.  Balbi  to  bo 
about  one  thousand  millions.  Until  within  a  few  years,  it  was 
not  supposed  to  surpass  eight  or  nine  hundred  millions.  But 
let  us  suppose,  that  M.  Balbi's  estimate  is  as  near  the  truth  as  it 
is  possible  for  such  a  conjecture  to  be  ;  and  let  us  see  how 
Christendom  stands,  in  point  of  population,  in  comparison  with 
the  Unevangelized  World, — as  the  non-Christian  portion  may 
be  termed.     The  result  will  be  as  follows  : — 

The  Protestants  are  more  than  eighty-two  millions.* 

*  This  will  appear  from  the  following  estimate,  which  will  hardly  be 
questioned ; — 

England,  Wales,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  at  least     .     .     .     21,000,000 

France,  Switzerland,  and  Italy,  at  least 3,000,000 

Germany,  and  Holland,  and  Belgium 22,500,000 

Hungary  and  Poland,  more  than 8,000,000 


AND    REGISTER.  IQl 

The  Roman  Catholics,  two  hundred  millions.'* 
The  Christians  of  the  Oriental  Churches,  at  least,  sixty  mil- 
lions.f 

These  numbers,  when  combined,  give  us  342,000,000,  as  the 
number  of  nominal  Christians  in  the  world.  That  is,  rather 
more  than  one  third  part  of  the  entire  human  race  profess  to  be 
followers  of  our  blessed  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  We 
are  now  speaking  only  of  outward  profession,  or,  of  what  they 
call  themselves,  in  distinction  from  Jews,  Mohammedans,  and 
Heathen. 

STILL    ANOTHER    VIEW. 

Christendom  now  governs  the  world,  directly  or  indirectly. 
Her  military  and  naval  strength  is  overwhelming.     What  are 

The  Scandinavian  Countries 8,250,000 

Russia  (exclusive  of  Finland) 1,000,000 

United  States — N'ortli  America,  all  of 20,500,000 

Canada  and  other  British  Possessions  in  America  (includ- 
ing the  West  Indies) 2,250,000 

Australia,  New  Zealand,  Van  Diemen's  Land,  Cape   of 
Good  Hope,  and  other  Enghsh  Possessions  in  Asia, 

^Africa,  and  Polynesia,  at  least 450,000 

Converts  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Society  Islands,  other 

islands,  and  among  the  Aborigines,  at  least    ....  50,000 


Making  in  all  .  .  .  .  82,000,000 
*  This  is  the  estimate  of  his  Holiness,  Pius  IX.,  who  surely  ought  to 
know,  inasmuch  as  he  is  the  shepherd  of  this  great  flock  !  Neverthe- 
less, it  is  very  difficult  to  find  more  than  one  hundred  and  seventy  or 
eighty  millions  of  Roman  Catholics  in  the  world,  even  including  several 
millions  of  people  who  are  really  infidels,  in  France,  and  other  papal 
lands. 

f  The  Oriental  Churches  are  the  G-reek,  Armenian,  Nestorian,  Syrian, 
Coptic,  and  Abyssinian.  The  number  of  their  adherents  cannot  be  put 
down  at  less  than  sixty  millions,  if  the  most  authentic  data  which  we 
have  can  be  relied  on. 


198  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

the  Heathen  nations,  in  this  respect,  at  present  ?  The  empire 
of  the  Great  Mogul  (with  all  the  rest  of  India),  once  so  formi- 
dable in  Southern  Asia,  is  in  the  possession  of  England.  China 
may  have  three  hundred  millions  of  inhabitants, — it  matters  lit- 
tle whether  she  have  more  or  less — but  she  has  no  military- 
strength  comparable  to  that  of  any  one  of  the  great  Christian 
Powers.  England,  by  sending  a  few  ships  of  war,  and  an  army 
of  less  than  15,000  men,  compelled  the  Chinese  Government,  a 
short  time  since,  to  accept  such  a  treaty  as  she  chose  to  dictate ! 
And  what  other  pagan  nation  is  there  in  the  world  that  can  be 
said  to  have  any  military  power  or  influence  ? 

And  as  to  the  Mohammedan  world,  the  case  is  not  widely 
different.  The  only  Mohammedan  country  which  has  any 
power  or  influence,  is  the  Turkish  Empire.  And  yet,  that  em- 
pire, before  which  all  Christendom  trembled  less  than  two  cen- 
turies ago,  has  now  scarcely  the  real  strength  of  one  of  the  third- 
rate  Powers  in  Christendom.  Holland,  with  little  more  than 
three  millions  of  inhabitants,  possesses  more  of  the  elements  of 
national  prosperity  and  strength,  than  the  Turkish  empire,  with 
its  twenty-six  millions.  Every  one  of  the  five  great  European 
Powers, — England,  Prussia,  France,  Austria,  Russia, — is  incom- 
parably stronger  than  Turkey.  Such  progress  have  they  made, 
whilst  she  has  remained  in  almost  the  same  Asiatic  barbarism 
that  characterized  her  when  the  crescent  fii'st  floated  from  the 
minarets  of  St.  Sophia, — that  even  Russia,  the  least  civilized  of 
the  five,  could  annihilate  the  Turkish  empire  in  one  campaign, 
and  drive  the  followers  of  the  Prophet  of  Mecca  across  the 
Bosphorus  and  the  Dardanelles  into  Asia,  whence  they  came. 

Christendom  has  not  only  the  military  strength  of  the  world, 
she  has  all  the  commerce  worth  speaking  of.  If  she  has  not 
all  the  wealth,*  she  has  a  very  large  share  of  it.     To  her  be- 

*  There  is  no  doubt  much  wealth  in  China  and  in  India,  and  some  in 
Turkey  and  Persia — t)ut  what  ia  there  elsewhere  out  of  Christendom  ? 


AXD    REGISTER.  199 

long  the  Sciences,  the  Arts,  the  Literature,  the  Press,  and  all 
the  high  Civilization  of  the  world.  Her  ships  sail  on  every 
sea  and  every  bay.  Her  steamboats  are  now  found  in  all  quar- 
ters of  the  globe,  and  will  soon  be  seen  on  every  navigable 
river  of  the  whole  earth,  carrying  the  products  of  civilization, 
the  fruits  of  Christianity,  and  the  missionary  of  the  cross,  into 
all  parts  of  the  world.  Her  telegraphs  will,  before  long,  trans- 
mit intelligence  with  hghtning  speed,  to  all  countries  of  the 
civilized  world  ;  and  her  railroads  will  soon  cover,  as  with  a  net- 
work of  iron,  all  the  lands  in  which  stable  governments  pre- 
vail. A  great  deal  of  this  wonderful  development  has  taken 
place  within  the  last  fifty  years. 

And  what  we  must  not  fail  to  remark  is,  that  those  nations 
in  Christendom  in  which  the  Papacy  binds  the  minds  of  men 
most  firmly  in  its  chains  of  ignorance  and  superstition,  are  pre- 
cisely those  in  which  there  has  been  least  of  progress  ;  and  this 
holds  good  in  the  exact  ratio  of  the  strength  of  that  bondage. 
Mexico,  Central  America,  South  America,  Spain,  Portugal,  Italy, 
and  Ireland  demonstrate  this.  Even  Russia,  with  all  the  igno- 
rance and  superstition  which  the  Greek  Church  embraces  and 
cherishes,  is  advancing  rapidly,  and  is  extending  its  influence 
and  its  colonies  far  and  wide.  There  is  no  papal  nation  that 
has  any  colonies,  of  much  account,  nor  is  there  the  least  pros- 
pect of  their  having  any.  France,  Spain,  Italy,  Austria,  Por- 
tugal have  few  or  no  colonies,  nor  are  they  doing  anything  to 
extend  Romanism  in  that  way.  But  what  is  the  case  with 
Protestant  Holland,  England,  and  the  United  States?  Their 
colonies  are  numerous  and  important.  England  and  Holland 
have  all  the  great  islands  in  the  Indian  and  Pacific  oceans. 
England,  especially,  is  extending  her  influence  and  her  Protes- 
tantism immensely,  by  means  of  her  vast  Colonial  Possessions 
in  the  Old  and  New  Worlds.  "Whilst  it  will  be  the  destiny  of 
the  United  States  to  people  almost  the  whole  North  American 
Continent  with  an  Anglo-Saxon — an  English-language  speaking 


200  CIIRISTIAX    RETROSPECT 

race.  Nor  is  it  by  any  moans  certain,  that  that  race  will  not 
extend  its  doiviinion  over  South  America,  or  very  important 
portions  of  it. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  those  countries  in  Christendom,  which  are 
blessed  with  tlie  Protestant  religion — though  for  from  being  as  pure 
and  powerful  in  its  influences  as  it  ought — have  the  greatest 
prosperity,  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  England,  Holland,  Prussia, 
and  the  Protestant  States  of  Germany,  the  Protestant  Cantons 
of  Switzerland,  and  the  Scandinavian  Countries,  in  the  Old 
World,  and  the  United  States  and  the  British  Possessions,  in 
the  New,  establish  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 

England  and  the  United  States  now  have  nearly  the  one 
fourth  part  of  the  habitable  globe  under  their  control !  Eng- 
land sways  a  sceptre  over  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  millions  of 
the  human  race  ;  whilst  the  United  States  govern  nearly  twenty- 
fuiir^ — making  a  total  of  almost  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight 
millions ;  or,  between  a  sixth  and  a  fifth  part  of  mankind !  The 
population  of  Great  Britain,  and  especially  of  her  vast  colonies, 
is  increasing  at  a  very  rapid  rate,  and  will  long  continue  to  do 
so.  And,  as  to  the  United  States,  it  is  probable  that  by  the 
end  of  the  XlXth  century,  they  will  ha^'e  a  population  of  not 
less  than  one  hundred  millions  !  And  if  the  Protestants  of 
this  generation  and  the  next  do  their  duty,  this  hundred  mil- 
lions will  be,  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  Protestant. 

The  same  thing  will  be  true  of  the  great  British  Empire,  if 
English  Protestants  do  their  duty  to  their  divine  Master,  and 
His  cause,  as  we  firmly  believe  they  will.  What  a  glorious 
prospect !  And  does  it  foreshadow  the  Decline  of  Protes- 
tantism? Decline  of  Protestantism!  this  is  about  the  last 
proposition  which  we  should  like  to  be  doomed  to  establish. 
From  the  influence  of  physical  causes  alone,  it  would  seem  that 
it  must  continue  to  increase,  and  to  extend  its  influences  in  all 
directions.  Protestantism  has  even  now  more  of  the  elements 
of  real  strength,  of  an  effective  civilization,  than  all  the  rest 


AND    REGISTER.  201 

of  Christericloin  combined — certainly  tr.aii  all  the  Papal  World, 
with  its  two  hundred  millions  of  inhabitants. 

The  first  grand  desideratum  of  this  time  is  the  revival  of  a 
pure  faith  and  holy  zeal  amongst  all  Protestants.  And  the 
next,  the  resuscitation  of  primitive,  apostolical  doctrine  through- 
out the  Papal  and  Oriental  churches.  In  other  words,  the  great 
want  of  this  age  is  the  regeneration  of  Christendom  !  May  it 
please  the  Saviour  to  implant  deeply  in  the  hearts  of  all  His  true 
followers  this  conviction ;  to  excite  them  to  put  forth  every  exertion 
in  behalf  of  this  great  object;  and  to  smile  upon  and  prosper 
the  great  Home  Missionary  work  of  Christendom.  If  there 
were  but  as  much  true  Christianity  throughout  all  the  Chris- 
tendom of  the  old  world,  as  there  is  even  in  England  or  Scot- 
land ;  if  there  was  as  much  in  Mexico,  Central  America,  and 
South  America,  as  there  is  in  the  United  States, — what  a 
mighty  work  the  Church  could  do  in  the  earth,  and  how  soon 
the  Gospel  would  be  carried  to  every  portion  of  the  human 
race  !  It  shall  be  our  object  to  show  in  the  succeeding  chapters 
of  this  v/ork,  that  there  are  many  favorable  omens,  which  should 
lead  us  to  increased  prayer,  joyful  expectation,  and  more  vigor- 
ous exertion. 

9* 


CHAPTER  11. 

PROGEESS   OF   RELIGIOUS   LIBERTY. 

Of  all  the  advances  made  by  mankind  during  the  first  half 
of  the  XlXth  century,  none  has  been  so  important  as  that 
which  relates  to  Religious  Freedom  ;  for  it  lies  at  the  founda- 
tion of  all  the  great  ameliorations  which  humanity  can  demand. 
It  is  conceded  by  all  the  ablest  writers  on  the  subject  of  Govern- 
ment and  Jurisprudence,  that  the  prevalence  of  sound  Morality 
is  essential  to  the  sustentation  of  free  governments.  And  that 
true  Morality  cannot  prevail  among  any  people  unless  it  have 
the  support  of  Religion,  is  a  proposition  which  few  will  venture 
to  deny.  But  how  Religion  is  to  flourish  in  any  country  with- 
out Religious  Liberty,  is  what  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  of. 


SECTION  I. 

WESTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

United  States. — There  has  been  little  room  for  progress  in 
regard  to  Religious  Liberty,  in  this  country,  so  far  as  the  joreack- 
ing  of  the  Gosjoel  is  concerned.  In  no  part  of  the  United  States 
is  it  forbidden  by  the  government, — general,  state,  or  munici- 
pal— to  proclaim  to  men, — to  all  classes  of  men, — the  glad 
tidings  of  Salvation.  No  prudent  mmister  of  the  Gospel  will 
experience  any  difficulty  in  his  appropriate  work,  in  any  part  of 
the  country.     Oral  instruction  may  be  iiuparted  to  people  of  all 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER,  203 

classes,  and  in  all  sections  of  the  country.  This  is  the  greatest 
of  all  our  spiritual  blessings  and  privileges.  We  would  rejoice 
to  be  able  to  say  that  it  is  permitted  to  teach  all  classes  to  read 
the  Word  of  God  ;'^  but  we  would  not  lose  sight  of,  nor  under- 
value, the  inestimable  right  which  all  enjoy,  of  hearing  the  Gos- 
pel preached,  if  they  live  within  its  sound. 

At  all  events, — and  this  constitutes  what  is  more  particularly 
embraced  in  the  idea  of  Religious  Liberty, — all  religious  sects 
and  denominations  of  religionists  are  put  on  the  same  footing 
with  us.  Any  man  may  hold,  profess,  and  propagate  such 
opinions  as  he  prefers  on  the  subject  of  religion,  without  hin- 
drance from  the  government.  The  Protestant,  the  Romanist, 
the  Jew,  the  Mohammedan,  and  the  Pagan  may  a^ll  have  their 
worship,  and  employ  such  efforts  as  they  think  proper  to  per- 
suade others  to  attend  it,  if  they  choose.  The  government  pro- 
tects all, — equally,  impartially,  and  effectively.  Like  the  Car- 
thaginian queen  it  says  : 

"  Tros  Tyriusque  mihi  nullo  discrimine  ageturj* 

There  are  but  two  States  we  believe, — those  of  IN'ew  Hamp- 
shire and  North  Carolina, — in  which  the  Israelite  may  not  en- 
joy all  the  political  rights  of  citizenship ;  but  there  is  not  a 
State  in  the  Union  in  which  he  may  not  profess  and  propagate 
his  religious  faith  and  practise  its  ceremonies. 

In  the  United  States  there  is  now  no  union  of  Church  and 
State.  This  cannot  be  said  of  any  other  portion  of  Christen- 
dom, we  are  sorry  to  say.  In  such  of  the  Southern  States  as 
had,  in  the  Colonial  era,  maintained  this  unhallowed  alhance,  it 
was  dissolved  either  during  the  Revolution,  or  not  long  after- 
wards.    Whilst  in  the  Northern,  it  came  to  an  end  in  Connec- 

*  In  nine  of  the  fifteen  slave-holding  States  it  is  not  allowed  by  law 
to  teach  those  who  are  in  bondage  to  read.  Nevertheless,  some  are 
taught,  if  not  publicly,  at  least  privately,  by  masters  or  by  fellow- 
eervants. 


204  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

ticut  in  1816,  and  in  Massachusetts  in  1833,— the  only  portions 
of  the  United  States  in  which  it  saw  the  beginning  of  this  cen- 
tury. It  is  now  ahnost  twenty  years  since  the  last  ligament 
that  bound  the  Church  to  the  State  in  any  part  of  this  country 
was  severed,  and  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a  man  among  us  who 
regn.^ts  the  fact.  Indeed,  we  have  not  seen  or  heard  of  more 
than  one  native  American  who  is  now  an  advocate — and  he  a 
very  uncertain  one, — of  the  union  of  Church  and  State. 

And  yet  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  the  government  with 
us,  whether  general  or  state,  is  indifferent, — much  less  hostile, 
— to  the  Church,  or  what  concerns  religion.  This  is  not  the 
position  of  things  in  the  United  States.  "In  your  country," 
wrote  one  of  the  monarchs  of  Europe  to  the  author  of  this  vol- 
ume, a  few  years  ago,  "  if  I  understand  the  case,  the  State  treats 
the  Church  as  a  stranger,  and  pushes  her  from  it;  but  here  [in 
Europe]  the  Church  is  the  slave  of  the  State."  His  majesty 
was  speedily  informed  that  his  opinion  respecting  the  state  of 
things  with  us  was  wholly  incorrect ;  alas,  it  was  too  true  in  re- 
lation to  the  Old  World.  No  enlightened  American  could  wish 
the  government  to  do  more  for  the  Church  than  ours  does, — 
protecting  it  in  all  its  rights  of  property,  defending  it  in  all  its 
modes  and  seasons  of  public  worship,  maintaining  and  enforcing 
the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  almost  as  far  perhaps  as  it  can 
well  do  without  interfering  with  that  degree  of  natural  liberty 
which  must  be  allowed  in  every  well-ordered  commonwealth. 
To  do  much  more  might  provoke  enmity,  hostility,  and  reaction 
— results  which  would  be  greatly  disastrous  to  the  cause  of 
truth  and  righteousness.  Men  cannot  be  made  Christians  by 
penal  laws,  or  by  police  regulations.  And  it  is  the  highest  at- 
tainment of  wisdom  to  ascertain  and  define  the  proper  boundary 
of  human  legislation  on  this  great  subject. 

We  think  that  Christianity  jiever  had  a  fairer  field  than  that 
which  it  possesses  in  the  United  States,  on  which  to  show  what 
it  can  do,  when  relying  on  the  Grace  of  its  Divine  Author— and 


AND    KEGISTER.  205 

its  own  native  energies.  And  although  v/e  are  far  from  believ- 
ing that  the  Church  with  us  is  fully  awake  to  her  re^^ponsibilities 
and  advantages,  yet  the  experiment  thus  far  has  been  anything 
else  than  a  failure. 

British  Provinces. — There  is  toleration — we  may  ev^^n  say,  Re- 
ligious Liberty — in  these  Pro vi [ices  ;  but  the  great  amount  of 
real  estate  and  other  property  secured  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  Canada-East  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris  1763,  that 
transferred  the  Canadas  to  England,  gives  to  that  Church  an 
overshadowing  influence  in  that  country.  At  the  same  time 
the  Episcopal  Church  has  claimed  an  undue  pre-eminence 
in  Canada- West.  This  state  of  things  has  led  to  many  and 
very  animated  discussions  in  the  newspapers,  in  the  religious 
bodies,  as  well  as  in  the  Legislature  of  those  portions  of  the 
British  Provinces  within  the  last  fevr  years.  The  ultimate 
influence  of  these  discussions  cannot  foil  to  be  good.  The 
Presbyterians,  Wesleyans,  and  other  Protestant  Churches  in  all 
these  Provinces  enjoy  entire  protection  in  their  rights  of  worship 
and  of  property,  and  are  steadily  increasing  in  numbers  and 
strength.  Upon  the  whole  the  cause  of  Religious  Liberty  has 
advanced  considerably  in  these  Provinces  of  late  years. 

Mexico  and  Central  America. — There  is  no  Religious  Liberty 
in  Mexico  and  the  States  of  Central  America.  We  are  not 
aware  that  the  slightest  advance  has  been  made  in  this  direction 
by  these  countries.  It  is  said,  however,  that  there  is  a  small 
but  eftective  and  increasing  party  in  Mexico,  who  are  in  favor  of 
religious  freedom,  and  disposed  to  make  exertions  to  attain  it. 
Nor  will  the  subject  be  allowed  to  slumber  in  Central  America. 

South  America. — The  question  of  Religious  Liberty  has  ex- 
cited a  good  deal  of  attention  in  the  Republics  of  New  Grenada, 
Venezuela,  Chili,  Paraguay,  and  in  the  Empire  of  Brazil ;  and 
some  progress  has  been  made.  Prudent  efforts  to  distribute  the 
Sacred  Scriptures  would  meet  with  no  insurmountable  obstacles 
in  those  countries.     In  this  respect  all  the  Spanish  and  Portu- 


206  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

guGPC  portions  of  the  American  Continents  are  in  a  much  more 
favorable  condition  than  they  were  when  colonies  of  the  mother 
countries.  In  none  of  them,  however,  is  there  anything  that 
ai->proaches  to  complete  Religious  Liberty.  Direct  efforts  to 
spread  Protestantism  in  any  part  of  South  America,  by  way  of 
forming  churches  composed  of  natives  of  those  countries,  wouhl 
not  be  allowed.  And  yet  the  day  when  this  will  be  practicable 
is  much  nearer  than  it  was  fifty  years  ago. 

The  West  Indies. — There  is  now  a  great  amount  of  Religious 
Liberty  in  the  British  portion  of  the  West  Lidian  Archipelago. 
Li  this  respect  the  state  of  those  islands  is  very  different  from 
what  it  was  before  the  year  1838, — the  epoch  of  the  Emancipa- 
tion of  the  slaves  in  those  islands.  As  the  Established  Church 
of  England  is  also  the  favored  Church  in  the  British  West 
India  Islands,  as  in  all  the  other  foreign  possessions  of  the 
United  Realm,  it  cannot  be  said,  with  the  strictest  propriety,  that 
there  is  perfect  religious  liberty  in  any  of  them.  Nevertheless 
all  denominations  of  Christians  are  protected  in  their  worship, 
and  in  their  efforts  to  propagate  their  doctrines,  and  increase 
their  adherents. 

The  Island  of  St.  Domingo,  or  Hayti,  has  made  great  pro- 
gress in  respect  to  religious  liberty.  That  important  island  is 
now  remarkably  open  to  judicious  efforts  to  propagate  the 
Truth.  This  is  one  of  the  fruits  of  the  progress  of  civil  and 
political  freedom  and  republican  institutions  in  that  land.  That 
progress  has  been  real,  notwithstanding  the  wild  scenes  of 
massacre  and  rapine  through  which  it  has  been  achieved.  We 
cannot  but  believe  that  the  way  has  been  wonderfully  prepared 
in  that  island  for  the  introduction  and  spread  of  true  Religion 
during  the  last  fifty  years.  In  the  Danish  and  Dutch  Islands 
there  is  a  large  amount  of  Religious  Liberty  ;  in  the  Swedish 
and  French  a  little ;  and  in  the  Spanish  none  at  all. 


AND    REGISTER.  207 


SECTION  II. 


THE    EASTERN    HEMISPHERE. 


Great  Britain, — The  question  of  Eeligious  Liberty  has  not 
made  as  great  progress  in  England  and  Ireland,  during  the  last 
fifty  years,  as  one  might  have  reasonably  expected.  The  Estab- 
lished Church  of  those  portions  of  the  British  Realm,  Episcopal 
in  both,  has  exerted  an  injurious  influence  upon  the  Dissenting 
Communions.  And  although  some  forms  of  vexation  and  oppres- 
sion have  been  abated,  yet  there  is  much  still  to  be  deplored.  We 
should  indeed  be  grateful  that  such  a  large  amount  of  religious 
freedom  is  enjoyed  in  those  countries,  yet  we  cannot  but  pray 
that  the  day  may  speedily  come  when  that  entire  liberty  of 
conscience  and  worship  shall  be  enjoyed,  by  all  the  inhabitants 
of  those  favored  lands,  which  the  principles  of  true  Protestantism 
demand. 

The  "  Disruption,"  as  it  has  been  called,  which  took  place  in 
the  Estabhshed  Church  of  Scotland,  in  the  year  1843,  was  one 
of  the  most  important  events  that  characterized  the  first  half  of 
the  XlXth  century.  That  nearly  500  pastors,  200  licentiates, 
and  200  students — in  all  900  men  either  in  the  ministr}^,  or 
soon  to  be — followed  by  a  million  of  the  inhabitants,  should 
abandon  the  Estabhshed  Church  in  one  day,  as  it  were,  and  form 
a  "  Free  Church,"  is  one  of  the  most  striking  evidences  of  the 
progress  of  Rehgious  Liberty  within  that  period  of  which  it  is 
possible  to  conceive, 

France. — Religious  Liberty  has  made  great  progress  in  France 
within  the  XlXth  century.  Great  opposition  has  been  encountered 
from  the  government  at  times,  and  from  Rome  always.  And 
yet  its  sacred  principles  have  been  constantly  gaining  ground  in 
the  hearts  of  a  large  portion  of  the  inhabitants,  especially  of 
all  those  who  are  the  friends  of  civil  and  political  liberty.     Nor 


208  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

can  we  for  a  moniont  doubt  what  will  be  tlic  issue  of  tlic  strug- 
gle now  going  forwanl  in  that  important  countr\',  however  pro- 
tracted or  violent  it  may  be. 

Belyium. — In  no  country  in  Europe  has  there  been  more 
pr(|:;ivss  in  regard  to  Religious  Liberty  than  in  Belgium.  And 
this  will  appear  the  more  extraordinary  when  we  consider  that 
I'landei's,  as  that  country  was  formerly  called,  was  for  a  long 
])eriod  the  most  thoroughly  papal  country  in  the  world.  The 
Constitution  of  that  country  guarantees  religious  liberty  to  all, — 
although  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  still  emphatically  tlie 
Established  Church  of  that  country.  This  greatest  of  blessings 
has  been  secured  by  the  Revolution  of  1830,  when  Belgium 
dissolved  the  union  with  Holland. 

Holland. — In  the  early  part  of  this  century  Holland  was  un- 
der the  government,  direct  or  indirect,  of  France,  for  nearly  fifteen 
years,  and  felt  the  influence  of  French  laws  and  French  opinions. 
During  this  period  Religious  Liberty  may  be  said  to  have  ex- 
isted without  restraint.  LTpon  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon  and 
the  succession  of  William  I.  to  the  throne,  the  four  Protestant 
Communions  (the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  the  Lutherans,  the 
Mennonite  Baptists,  and  the  Remonstrants),  as  well  as  the  Ro- 
man Catholics,  were  put  on  the  same  footing  by  the  constitution 
and  the  laws.  But  no  provision  was  made  for  those  who  might 
dissent  from  all  these  recognized  religious  bodies.  The  conse- 
quence has  been  that  much  oppression,  and  even  disgraceful 
persecution,  was  suffered  by  thousands  of  excellent  people  who 
could  not  conscientiously  remain  in  any  of  the  Protestant  bodies, 
from  the  year  1836  to  1848.  Several  thousands  emigrated  in 
the  years  1845,  '40,  and  '47  to  the  United  States,  and  settled 
in  Michigan,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  and  New  York.  The  great  con- 
vulsions which  occurred  in  so  many  nations  in  Europe,  in  1848, 
BO  far  affected  Holland  as  to  lead  to  some  important  modifica- 
tion of  her  laws,  and  now  religious  hberty  is  much  more  fully 
enjoyed,  and  tranquillity  has  been  restored. 


AND    RKGISTER.  209 

Germany. — It  is  no  easy  thing*  to  give  a  clear  and  definite 
view  of  the  state  of  things  in  Germany  at  this  moment,  either 
as  respects  the  State  or  the  Church.  During  the  greater  part 
of  the  first  half  of  the  XTXth  century,  there  was  nothing  hke 
real  religious  liberty  in  either  the  Papal  or  Protestant  parts  of 
that  country,  though  there  was  more  quiet  and  effective  toler- 
ation in  the  latter  than  in  the  former.  In  neither  was  there 
entire  freedom  of  religious  worship  and  action.  Men  were  per- 
secuted in  Silesia, — Protestants  even, — in  1836,  '37,  and  '38, 
and  only  because  they  would  not  conform  to  the  Church  of  the 
State.  Even  in  Hamburg,  Baptists  were  persecuted  in  1839 
and  '40.  Whilst  in  Bavaria,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  portions 
of  the  Austrian  Empire,  Protestants  were  oppressed,  and  their 
efforts  to  propagate  the  Truth  hindered,  and  even  prevented. 
Nearly  500  Tyrolese  were  expelled  from  Zillerthal,  in  1837,  for 
no  other  offence  than  the  renunciation  of  the  Papal  superstitions 
for  the  Protestant  Faith.  The  government  of  Prussia  gave 
these  exiles  an  asylum  in  Silesia, — in  the  country  from  which, 
at  that  very  moment,  it  was  compelling  the  "  Old  Lutherans" 
to  emigrate  to  America ! 

The  Revolution  of  1848  has  unquestionably  done  much  to 
loosen  the  bonds  which  unite  the  Church  to  the  State,  in  the 
Protestant  countries  of  Germany,  and  to  increase  the  toleration 
which,  to  some  extent,  existed  previously.  But  in  all  the  un- 
holy alliance  still  remains,  and  so  long  as  it  continues  entire, 
complete  religious  liberty  will  be  impossible.  That  great  prog- 
ress has  been  made  in  the  right  direction  in  Germany,  and  even 
to  some  extent  in  the  whole  Austrian  Empire,  may  be  asserted 
without  the  fear  of  contradiction ;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  indicate 
it  in  detail,  or  to  measure  its  influence. 

Switzerland. — At  the  commencement  of  the  XlXth  century 
Religious  Liberty  was  far  from  prevailing  in  the  land  of  William 
Tell  In  all  the  Protestant  Cantons  there  was  a  union  of  Church 
and  State,  without  provision  for  Protestant  dissent.   Roman  Cath- 


210  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

olios  wore  tolerated  in  all  of  them.  In  the  Roman  Cotholic  Can- 
tons there  were  almost  no  Protestants  at  all,  nor  was  Protestantism 
tulerated  in  most  of  them.  The  recent  revolutions  in  that  country 
have  done  much  to  weaken  the  union  which  subsists  between 
the  Church  and  the  State  in  all  parts  of  it.  The  monastic  estab- 
lishments have  been,  for  the  most  part,  broken  up  in  the  Papal 
Cantons.  The  disgraceful  conduct  of  the  government  in  the 
Protestant  Canton  of  Vaud  caused  a  secession  to  be  made,  by  a 
large  number  of  pastors,  from  the  Established  Church,  in  the 
years  1845,  '46,  and  '47.  Much  suffering  ensued.  The  seced- 
ing ministers  were  greatly  persecuted  and  hindered  in  their 
efforts  to  promote  the  Gospel.  This  storm  has  now,  we  are 
happy  to  say,  passed  away  in  a  good  degree,  and  tranquillity  is 
restored.  Upon  the  whole,  we  are  inclined  to  believe  that  the 
cause  of  Religious  Liberty  has  begun  to  make  real  progress  in 
Switzerland  within  the  last  few  years. 

Denmark. — The  constitution  of  Denmark,  given  in  1848, 
guarantees  Religious  Liberty  to  a  good  degree,  though  there  is 
much  to  be  desired.  Before  that  event,  there  was  no  toleration 
of  any  form  of  Protestantism  save  that  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
whilst  a  few  Roman  Catholic  Churches  existed  by  special  favor, 
or  by  sufferance,  rather  than  by  any  other  rule. 

Norway. — Norway  was  detached  from  Denmark  and  united 
to  Sweden  in  1814.  An  equal  degree  of  intolerance  reigned 
in  that  countiy  as  in  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Finland,  the  other 
portions  of  what  is  called  Scandinavia.  Nothing  but  the  Luth- 
eran Church  was  acknowledged.  But  the  Storthing  or  Legislature, 
about  the  year  1845,  made  a  law  (which  the  King  of  Sweden 
approved)  by  which  any  Norwegian,  who  was  nineteen  years  of 
age,  may  quit  the  Established  Church,  and  have,  in  conjunction 
with  others,  such  a  religious  worship  as  he  may  prefer,  but  for 
whose  support  the  State  will  not  be  responsible.  He  must, 
however,  continue  to  bear  his  share  of  the  burden  of  sustaininif 
the  National  Church.     Imperfect  and  unjust  as  is  this  enact- 


AND    REGISTER.  211 

ment,  it  is  the  commencement  of  what  must  one  day  end  in  en- 
tire religious  freedom  in  Norway. 

Sweden. — The  question  of  Rehgious  Liberty  has  been  much 
discussed  in  Sweden,  bat  to  this  day  nothing  of  importance  has 
been  done.  No  form  of  Protestantism  is  tolerated  but  the  Lu- 
theran. If  a  Swede  becomes  a  Roman  Catholic,  he  is  liable  to 
20  years'  imprisonment,  or  to  banishment !  Indeed  he  will  be 
liable  to  the  same  punishment  if  he  become  a  Protestant  of  any 
other  Communion  than  that  connected  with  the  State.  A  Mr. 
Nillson  has  lately  been  sentenced  to  banishment,  because  he  has 
become  a  Baptist !  This  is  disgraceful  to  the  cause  of  Protes- 
tantism. The  King  feels  it  to  be  such,  for  he  has  hitherto  re- 
fused to  approve  the  decision  of  the  court. 

Russia. — We  are  not  aware  that  the  question  of  Rehgious 
Liberty  has  made  any  progress  in  Russia  since  the  commence- 
ment of  this  century.  The  Established  Church  of  that  great 
Empire  is  the  Greek,  which  embraces  more  than  47,000,000  of 
the  66,500,000  of  the  population.  In  that  vast  country  all 
other  forms  of  Christianity — Protestant,  Armenian,  and  Roman 
Catholic — as  well  as  Judaism,  Mohammedanism,  and  Paganism, 
are  tolerated.  It  is  allowable  to  Protestants  to  convert  Jews, 
Mohammedans,  and  Pagans,  but  the  converts  will  be  expected 
to  join  the  great  Russo-Greek  Church,  with  all  its  errors  and 
corruptions,  which  are  almost  as  great  as  those  of  Rome  itself. 
Nor  is  it  permitted  that  any  one  quit  that  Church,  for  any  other. 
The  law  is  less  rigidly  enforced  in  Poland,  the  Baltic  Provinces, 
and  Finland,  than  in  the  rest  of  the  Empire.  And  yet  there  is 
an  open  door  in  Russia  for  the  circulation  of  Religious  Tracts, 
and  to  some  extent,  for  the  diffusion  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 

Spain  and  Portugal. — The  constitution  of  neither  Spain  nor 
Portugal  contains  a  word  in  favor  of  Religious  Liberty.  Never- 
theless, the  laws  of  Portugal  are  not  so  stringent  as  to  prevent 
the  existence  of  Protestant  chapels  at  Lisbon  and  Oporto,  for 
the  benefit  of  foreigners.     A  converted  priest  has  even  preached 


212  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

the  Gospel  to  as  many  of  the  native  population  as  chose  to 
come  and  hear  him,  at  the  former  city,  for  the  Last  five  or  six 
years.  There  is  not  a  Protestant  pLice  of  worship,  so  far  as  we 
are  advised,  in  all  Spain.  At  Gibraltar,  beneath  the  British 
dominion,  there  are  several  Protestant  churches  and  chapels. 
Much  can  be  done  in  Portugal,  and  something  in  Spain,  with 
prudence,  to  circulate  the  Word  of  God. 

Italy. — In  no  part  of  the  world  has  Religious  Liberty  been 
less  known  or  enjoyed  than  in  that  which  claims  to  be  the 
centre  of  Christendom.  The  "  Bishops  of  Rome"  have  ever 
been  bold  enough  to  demand,  and  ready  enough  to  accept, 
liberty  to  propagate  their  system  of  religion,  but  never  disposed 
to  concede  the  same  advantage  to  others.  In  this  respect  one 
is  at  a  loss  to  determine  which  is  the  more  astounding — their 
arrogance,  or  their  utter  want  of  all  sense  of  justice. 

No  part  of  Italy  has  for  fifteen  centuries  known  the  blessings 
of  Religious  Liberty,  excepting  the  Valleys  of  the  Waldenses^ 
and  that  little  district  only  at  intervals,  and  as  the  purchase  of 
much  blood,  and  of  the  most  dreadful  sufferings.  But  even 
Italy  is  not  to  be  despaired  of.  Light  is  breaking  into  that 
beautiful  land, 

"  Where  every  prospect  pleases." 

The  Revolutions  of  1848  did  not  occur  wholly  in  vain.  Most 
important  discussion^  took  place  in  the  newspapers  of  Sardinia, 
Tuscany,  the  Papal  States,  and  even  of  Lombardy  and  Naples, 
during  several  months — discussions  which  related  to  the  entire 
subject  of  liberty, — political,  civil,  and  religious.  These  discus- 
sions have  not  been  without  good  results.  Although  no  gov- 
ernments in  Italy  are  now  Constitutional  governments,  except- 
ing the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia  and  the  little  Republic  of  San 
Marino,  yet  there  is  practically  a  for  greater  amount  of  religious 
liberty,  or  toleration  rather,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia  than 
any  part  of  Italy  had  ever  before  seen.     This  is  the  more  remade- 


AND    REGISTER.  213 

able,  when  we  recall  to  mind  the  fact,  that  the  Waldenses  live 
in  that  Kingdom — that  mart^^r-race  who  suffered  so  much  for 
the  cause  of  Truth,  from  the  very  ancestors  of  a  monarch  who 
now  protects  them.  Let  us  be  thankful  that  something  like  a 
beginning  has  been  made  in  Italy,  in  regard  to  this  most  im- 
portant subject.  We  ought  to  add,  perhaps,  as  a  sign  of 
progress,  that  his  Holiness  has  permitted  an  American  Protes- 
tant Chapel  to  be  opened  in  Rome  itself — a  privilege  which  was 
never  granted  before  in  Rome  within — the — walls. 

Greece. — There  is,  properly  speaking,  no  religious  liberty  in 
the  kingdom  of  Greece,  but  the  subject  has  awakened  the  at- 
tention of  not  a  few  w^ell-instructed  minds,  and  the  day  is  evi- 
dently drawing  near,  when  governmental  jealousy  and  priestly 
hostility  will  yield  to  the  influences  of  truth  and  justice.  Even 
now  a  great  deal  can  be  done — a  great  deal  is  doing  by  Amer- 
ican and  English  and  German  missionaries  to  make  known  the 
pure  Gospel  in  that  small  but  interesting  country — so  dear  to 
the  classic  scholar  as  well  as  to  the  sincere  Christian.  Had 
Greece  been  papal  to  the  same  extent  that  it  is  an  adherent  of 
the  Greek  church,  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  nothing  could 
be  done  to  replace  superstition  and  perverted  doctrine  by  the 
glorious  truth  of  God's  Word.  More  than  two  hundred  differ- 
ent religious  tracts  and  books  have  been  pubhshed  through  the 
exertions  of  the  missionaries  just  referred  to,  in  the  Modern 
Greek,  and  have  been  widely  circulated. 

Turkey. — But  in  no  part  of  Europe  has  there  been  so  great 
a  change,  in  this  respect,  as  in  the  Empire  of  Turkey,  within  the 
last  few  years.  The  Sultan  is  determined  to  put  Christians 
upon  the  same  footing  with  the  Mohammedans,  as  to  the  en- 
joyment of  their  religious,  and  probably,  also,  all  their  political 
rights.  A  recent  act  of  his  government  has  placed  Protestants 
in  as  favorable  circumstances  as  could  be  desired.  This,  under 
God,  has  been  owing  to  the  happy  influence  which  our  own 
American  missionaries  have  exerted  there,  and  also  to  the  zeal- 


214  CHRISTIAN    RETIlOSrECT 

ous  but  prudent  efforts  of  Sir  Stratford  Canning,  the  English 
ambassador. 

OtJtcr  portions  of  the  Old  World. — It  may  not  be  amiss  to 
remark,  that  in  the  EngUsh  possessions  throughout  the  Old 
World,  as  well  as  the  New,  there  is  now  a  very  large  amount 
of  religious  liberty.  Nor  has  this  been  brought  about  without 
much  effort.  The  time  has  been  when  those  who  carried  on 
the  government  of  the  British  Possessions  and  of  British  Colo- 
nies, were  jealous  of  the  efforts  and  influence  of  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries. A.  great  contest  on  this  subject  was  carried  on  in 
India  in  the  early  part  of  this  century.  In  that  important  dis- 
cussion, the  Rev.  Dr.  Claudius  Buchanan  took  a  most  important 
part,  as  did  the  American  missionaries  at  Bombay  at  a  later 
day.  The  result  hiis  been  all  that  could  be  desired.  Instead 
of  being  ordered  out  of  them, — as  were  the  first  American  mis- 
sionaries who  went  to  India, — Christian  teachers  are  now  freely 
admitted,  and  even  welcomed,  in  all  the  possessions  and  colonies 
of  England. 

We  are  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  say  as  much  of  the  colonial 
possessions  of  Protestant  Holland  and  Papal  Spain.  Commer- 
cial jealousies  in  the  former,  and  dread  of  the  Protestant  religion 
in  the  latter,  concur  to  make  them  almost  close  up  the  avenues 
by  which  light  and  truth  miglit  penetrate  into  them. 

The  reader  will  gather  from  the  foregoing  survey  of  the  state 
of  things  throughout  the  world,  that  Religious  Liberty  has 
made  decided  progress  in  both  hemispheres  since  the  com- 
mencement of  the  XlXth  century.  This  is  a  fact  of  the  utmost 
importance.  There  can  be  no  view  taken  of  Christendom  more 
consolatory  or  encouraging  than  this.  We  see  in  this  incipient 
and  wide-spreading  progress  of  religious  freedom,  that  j!;rg/9ara- 
tion  of  the  ivay  of  the  Lord  which  precedes  and  announces 
His  speedy  coming.  Surely  all  this  breaking  down  and  removing 
of  barriers  which  formerly,  and  for  long  ages,  prevented  tho 


AND    REGISTER.  215 

spread  of  the  Truth,  will  soon  be  followed  by  a  vast  impulse  of 
spiritual  life  and  etlort  in  all  directions,  which  will  not  cease  till 
Christendom  shall  be  regenerated  and  the  world  subdued  by 
the  Gospel.  In  fact,  we  already  see  the  commencement  of  this 
work — whose  consummation  is  so  devoutly  to  be  desired — as  we 
shall  attempt  to  show  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PROGRESS  OF   EVANGELICAL   CHRISTIANITY  DURING 
THE   FIRST   HALF   OF   THE   XIXTH   CENTURY. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  enlargement  of  Christendom  and  the 
Prooress  of  Religious  Liberty  during  the  first  half  of  the  XlXth 
century.  We  come  now  to  what  is  the  most  important  of  all : — 
The  advance  of  Evangelical  Religion  in  the  Protestant 
Churches  during  the  period  under  review.  This  is  a  subject  of 
vital  importance,  compared  with  which  all  others  diminish  into 
comparative  insignificance. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  state  of  Religion  in  the  Protes- 
tant Churches  was  far  from  being  encouraging  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present  century.  In  the  United  States,  a  long 
period  of  spiritual  death  had  oppressed  the  churches  of  almost 
every  denomination.  It  is  true  that  there  had  been  seasons  of 
cheering  revival  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  especially  in  New 
England  and  some  of  the  Middle  States.  The  visits  of  White- 
field  and  Wesley,  the  labors  of  the  Tennents,  of  Edwards,  and 
other  faithful  servants  of  Christ  had  done  much  to  keep  ahve 
the  piety  of  the  churches  during  the  middle  portion  of  the  last 
century.  But  as  a  general  statement,  it  must  be  said  that  true 
Religion  was  in  a  very  low  condition  in  the  churches  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  and  had  long  been  so.  The  conflicts  of  the 
Colonies  with  the  Aborigines ;  the  "  French  War,"  as  that  between 
England  and  France  (1756-63)  which  ended  in  the  conquest  of 
Canada  by  the  former,  was  called ;  the  exciting  disputes  with 
the  mother  country,  from  1785  to  1775  ;  the  war  of  the  Revolu- 


CHRISTIAN    EETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER.  21 7 

tion  (iVTo-SS) ;  the  years  of  prostrated  commerce  and  industry, 
of  bankruptcy,  and  of  disunion  (1782-89)  which  preceded  the 
formation  of  the  Constitution  and  the  organization  of  the  present 
Government;  the  succeeding  difficulties  with  England  and 
France,  leading  to  a  temporary  collision  with  the  latter,  (1792- 
99)  together  with  several  wars  with  the  Indians  : — all  com- 
bined to  injure  and  depress  the  interests  of  Evangelical  Religion. 
To  this  must  be  added  the  unhappy  effects  of  the  union  of 
Church  and  State  which  so  long  existed  in  the  most  important 
of  the  Colonies — now  States — both  North  and  South,  developing 
themselves  in  the  manifestation  of  most  dangerous  errors  in  the 
former,  and  in  a  chilling  and  worldly  formality  in  the  latter. 

Blessed  be  God,  in  some  parts  of  New  England,  especially  in 
Connecticut,  the  horizon  began  to  lighten  up  a  little,  during  the 
last  decade  of  the  last  century.  Some  precious  revivals  took 
place,  and  the  spirit  of  Missions,  especially  in  relation  to  the 
Home  field,  began  to  manifest  itself.  But  it  was  not  until  the 
XlXth  century^iad  opened,  and  especially  when  the  war  with 
England,  and  some  severe  ones  with  the  Aborigines  (1812-15) 
had  passed  away,  that  the  glorious  era  of  our  spiritual  prosperity 
as  a  nation  was  fully  ushered  in. 

In  Great  Britain  very  much  the  same  thing  occurred.  The 
resuscitation  of  Religion,  commenced  by  the  labors  of  Wesley 
and  AVhitefield,  and  continued  during  the  long  hfe  of  the  former, 
was  strengthened  and  protracted  by  the  labors  of  Romaine, 
Newton,  Rowland  Hill,  Fuller,  Cecil,  Scott  and  others.  As  a 
fruit  of  this  movement,  the  spirit  of  Missions,  especially  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Foreign  field,  sprang  up  among  the  Baptists  and 
Independents  first,  and  afterwards  among  the  Evangelical  por- 
tion of  the  Established  Church,  between  the  years  1790  and 
1800,  and  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Baptist  and  London 
Missionary  Societies.  This  glorious  operation  of  the  Spirit  re- 
ceived a  further  development  in  the  formation  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society  in  1804,  and  of  other  kindred  institutions 
10 


218  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

whicli  came  into  existence  in  the  British  Realm   about  that 
epoch. 

Let  us  now  trace  the  Progress  of  Evangelical  Religion  from 
this  point,  or  rather  from  the  commencement  of  the  century,  and 
notice  some  of  the  land-marks  which  may  indicate  both  the 
extent  and  the  rate  of  the  movement,  both  in  the  Old  and  the 
New  World. 


SECTION  I. 

THE    WESTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

The  United  States. — The  blessed  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  began  to  be  felt  in  great  power  in  our  Churches,  as 
we  have  said,  in  the  early  years  of  this  century,  and  especially 
after  the  restoration  of  peace  and  tranquillity  in  1815,  have  ever 
since  in  a  good  degree  pervaded  almost  all  parts  of  the  country, 
and  produced  the  happiest  effects.  The  piety,  the  knowledge, 
the  zeal,  and  the  devotedness  of  Christians  were  greatly  augmen- 
t(Kl.  The  standard  of  duty  and  of  personal  holiness  became 
more  elevated.  Christians  began  to  feel  more  deeply  that  each 
lind  a  work  to  do  for  Christ,  and  for  humanity,  as  well  as  to 
S(-'cure  the  salvation  of  his  own  soul.  The  distribution  of  the 
Word  of  God,  and  of  Religious  Tracts,  the  instruction  of  the 
youth  and  uneducated  adults  in  Sabbath-schools  and  Bible- 
classes,  began  to  be  appreciated  and  vigorously  prosecuted. 
The  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  from  on  high  was  seen  to  be  the 
greatest  of  blessings,  both  for  the  individual  and  for  the  entire 
community.  It  was  accordingly  sought  with  heartfelt  earnest- 
ness, and  very  richly  and  extensively  enjoyed.  "The  churches 
then  had  rest"  throughout  all  the  land,  "  and  were  edified ;  and 
walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  comfort  of  the  Iloly 
Ghost,  were  multiplied." 

This  spiritual  prosperity  was  confined   to  no  section  of  our 


AND    REGISTER.  219 

country,  although  it  was  most  marked,  as  may  well  be  supposed, 
in  those  parts  where  the  means  of  grace  were  the  most  abundant. 
Nor  was  it  limited  to  any  particular  branch  of  the  one  true 
Church  of  God  among  us,  although  it  was  most  visible  in  those 
portions  of  it  in  which  the  Gospel  was  preached  with  the  most 
simplicity,  discrimination,  fervency,  and  faithfulness.  Every 
evano-elical  branch  of  the  Church  felt  the  life-o-ivina:  influence 
of  the  blessed  movement.  The  number  of  individual  churches 
rapidly  increased.  Societies  were  formed  to  assist  those  who 
emigrated  to  the  new  settlements  in  the  West,  to  establish 
among  them,  even  before  they  had  felled  the  forests  around 
them,  the  institutions  of  the  Gospel.  Whilst  the  rapidly-in- 
creasing population  of  our  large  cities  began  to  call  forth  new 
and  extraordinary  efforts  to  multiply  the  number  of  places  of 
worship,  and  secure  the  religious  instruction  of  the  people. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  visible  Church  in  the  United  States 
received  a  great  and  rapid  enlargement  during  the  half-century 
which  has  just  passed  away,  and  especially  during  the  last 
thirty-five  years  of  it.  A  very  brief  notice  of  the  several  Evan- 
gelical Churches  will  prove  this.  It  will  be  seen  that  some  en- 
tire denominations  have  come  into  existence  in  this  country 
within  the  last  fifty  years,  and  others  have  increased  from  small 
and  insignificant  beginnings  until  they  have  become  powerful 
bodies.  What,  for  instance,  was  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States,  in  the  year  1800?  We  cannot  speak 
with  precision,  but  it  probably  did  not  have  40,000  members ; 
now  it  has  almost  a  million  and  a  quarter  !  What  were  the 
Baptist  Churches  ?  What  were  the  Presbyterian  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  XlXth  century  ?  They  were  small,  feeble, 
and  insignificant  bodies  in  comparison  with  what  they  now  are. 
The  same  thing  may  be  asserted  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  although  it  is  the  oldest  of  all  the  churches  in  this 
country.  Even  the  Congregational  body  of  churches,  and  the 
Reformed  Dutch,  which  rank  next  in  point  of  age,  and  which 


220  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

have  increased  less  rapidly  than  many  others,  have,  nevertheless, 
increased  very  greatly,  and  are  several  fold  more  numerous  and 
powerful  than  they  were  in  the  year  1800. 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  did  not  exist  until 
several  years  after  the  commencement  of  this  century,  and  now 
it  is  a  numerous  and  important  body.  The  minor  Presbyterian 
bodies*  were  extremely  feeble  at  that  epoch ;  but  now,  when 
taken  as  one  body,  they  present  a  very  highly  respectable  and 
commanding  phalanx.  The  Lutheran  and  German  Reformed 
Churches  have  received  a  greater  increase  in  numbers  by  immi- 
gration from  the  Fatherland  than  almost  any  other ;  whilst  sev- 
eral smaller  bodies  of  Germanic  origin  have  come  into  existence 
during  the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking. 

To  make  this  subject  more  intelligible,  we  will  present,  under  a 
general  view,  the  si^'veral  evangelical  bodies  as  they  were  fifty 
years  ago  (if  they  then  existed),  as  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  and 
then  state  their  present  position  as  to  number  of  members, 
ministers,  and  communicants. 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. — This  body  had,  in 
1800,  four  bishops,  and  probably  250  ministers.  In  1832, 
15  bishops,  and  583  ministers.  In  1850,  it  had  27  dioceses,  26 
bishops,  and  about  1500  other  ministers,  and  nearly  72,000 
communicants. 

The  Congregational  Churches. — We  have  no  definite 
knowledge  of  the  number  of  these  churches  in  1800,  but  we 
suppose  they  did  not  exceed  400  or  500,  having  as  many  pastors, 
and  probably  75,000  communicants.  In  1850,  there  were  1971 
churches,  1687  ministers,  and  197,196  members. 

The  Regular  Baptists. — We  know  not  what  their  number 
was  in  1800,t  but  their  increase  has  been  wonderful.     In  1850, 

*  Tlie  Associate,  Associate  Reformed,  and  Reformed  Presbyterian, 
\  In  the  year  1784,  they  had  471  churches,  424  ministers,  and  35,101 
members.     In  1790-92,  they  had   1150   clmrches,  891   ministers,  and 
G5,345  members.     Even  in  1810-12,  they  had  only  2164  chmxhes,  1606 
ministers,  and  172,972  members. 


AND    REGISTER.  221 

their  clmrches  were  estimated  at  8406,  their  preachers  at  5142; 
and  their  communicants  680,807. 

Minor  Baptist  Bodies. — These  were  very  insignificant  in 
the  year  1800.  The  last  mentioned  in  the  hst  but  one  did  not 
exist.  They  are  as  follows  : — Freeivill  Baj^tists,  having,  in  1850, 
1252  churches,  1082  ministers,  and  56,542  members.  Seventh 
Day  Baptists. — They  had,  in  1850,  63  churches,  58  ministers, 
and  about  7000  communicants.  In  the  year  1800,  there  were 
but  few  in  the  country.  The  Disciples  of  Christ,  Reformers, 
or  Cam2Jbellites,  as  they  are  interchangeably  called,  did  not 
exist  until  the  year  1816.  Now  they  are  reported  to  have 
1898  churches,  848  ministers,  and  118,618  members.  The 
Six-Princi2jle-Ba2:)tists  have  now  about  3500  members.  There 
are  one  or  two  other  small  Baptist  bodies,  whose  statistics  we 
have  not  been  able  to  obtain ;  but  they  would  not  affect  much 
the  general  estimate,  which  is  all  that  we  can  aim  at  here. 
The  Mennonites  (German)  have  about  400  little  congregations, 
240  preachers,  and  the  number  of  their  members  we  do  not  know. 

The  Presbyterians. — This  body  was  an  influential  one, 
even  in  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  In  1800  it  had  increased 
to  about  300  ministers,  500  churches,  and  40,000  members  or 
communicants.  In  1850,  including  the  two  bodies  into  which 
it  was  divided  twelve  years  previously,  it  had  4093  churches, 
3333  ministers,  863  licentiates,  and  337,438  communicants. 

Minor  Presbyterian  Churches. — The  Cumherland  Presby- 
terians commenced  in  1812  ;  they  had  in  1850,  about  500 
churches,  nearly  as  many  ministers,  and  not  far  from  75,000 
membei's. — Reformed  Dutch  Church, — This  body  had,  in 
1784,  only  82  congregations,  and  30  ministers;  in  1850  it 
had  282  churches,  299  ministers,  and  33,780  members. — The 
Scottish  Presbyterian  Churches  scarcely  existed  in  1800;  now 
they  have,  in  all,  about  550  churches,  430  ministers,  and  57,000 
members. — The  German  Reformed  Church  has  now  about  600 
churches,  260  ministers,  and  70,000  communicants. — The  Lu' 


222  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

theran  Chnrch  had,  in  1850, 1,003  congregations,  663  ministers, 
and  163,000  members.  Both  these  denominations  were  quite 
small  in  1800,  and  almost  confined  to  the  State  of  Pennsylvania ; 
they  are  now  found  in  all  the  Middle  States,  and  are  numerous 
in  the  South  and  West. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had,  in  1850,  includ- 
ing both  branches,  5,646  preachers,  and  1,160,830  members. 
In  the  year  1784,  this  Church  was  organized,  and  had  then  83 
ministers,  and  14,986  members  ! 

The  Minor  Methodist  Churches. — These  have  all  origi- 
nated, with  one  or  two  exceptions,  since  the  year  1800. — The 
Protestant  Methodist  Church  (organized  in  1826)  has  1,200 
preachers,  500  places  of  worship,  and  about  62,000  members. 
— ^The  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  (organized  in  1842)  had 
in  1850,  twelve  Conferences  of  ministers,  and  about  20,000 
members. — The  United  Brethren  in  Christ  (German)  arose 
about  1Y90,  held  its  first  Conference  in  1800,  and  had,  in  1850, 
about  1,800  places  of  worship,  600  preachers,  and  67,000  mem- 
bers. The  Evangelical  Association  (German)  founded  in  1800^ 
had,  in  1850,  312  ministers,  travelling  and  local,  900  places  of 
preaching,  and  about  17,000  communicants. 

The  Moravians,  or  United  Brethren. — This  body  has  in- 
creased less  than  any  other  in  the  United  States  during  the  last 
50  years.  They  have  about  23  churches,  27  ministers,  and  3,000 
communicants. 

Friends. — This  body  has  not  increased  much.  The  orthodox 
portion  is  estimated  to  have  about  300  congregations. 

The  preceding  statements,  though  very  general,  will  show 
that  what  are  considered  to  be  truly  Protestant  Churches,  hold- 
ing to  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Reformers,  have  rapidly  in- 
creased in  number  since  the  year  1800.  We  think  that  it  is 
easy  to  show  that  the  number  of  evangelical  churches,  ministers, 
and  members,  was  much  greater  in  1850,  in  proportion  to  the 
po]5ulation,  than  it  was  in  1800  :  as  to  efficiency  in  all  that  re- 


AND    REGISTER.  223 

lates  to  the  work  of  extending  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel, 
the  contrast  between  the  churches  of  the  two  epochs  is  still  more 
striking,  as  the  succeeding  chapters  of  this  volume  will  show. 

British  Possessions  in  America. — We  have  not  the  means 
of  measuring  the  progress  of  Evangelical  Religion  in  the  British 
Provinces  north  of  us,  and  in  the  West  India  Islands ;  but  we 
have  no  doubt  about  its  reality.  There  is  much  more  of  vital 
piety  and  efficient  action  in  the  Protestant  Churches  in  the  Can- 
adas,  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  Newfoundland,  Prince  Ed- 
ward's Island,  as  well  as  in  the  English  Possessions  in  the 
West  India  Archipelago,  and  in  Guiana,  than  there  was  at 
the  commencement  of  the  present  century, — unless  we  have 
been  altogether  misled  by  the  documents  before  us. 


SECTION  II. 

THE    EASTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland. — That  there  has  been  a  great  in- 
crease of  Evangelical  Religion  in  England  and  Wales  within  the 
last  50  years,  is  the  testimony  of  every  well-informed  Christian 
of  those  parts  of  the  British  Realm,  with  whom  we  have  ever 
conversed,  during  the  repeated  visits  which  we  have  made 
to  them.  In  the  Established  Church  this  increase  of  true  piety 
and  zeal  has  been  very  visible.  The  present  alarming  manifes- 
tation of  a  tendency  Rome-ward  in  the  unevangelical  portion  of 
that  Church,  does  not  disprove  this  assertion.  The  case  is  de- 
plorable, but  the  Saviour  will  cause  it,  in  some  way  or  other,  to 
work  for  the  purification  and  strengthening  of  His  true  Church 
in  that  land.  The  formation  of  a  pure,  evangelical,  and  free 
Church  must,  sooner  or  later,  be  the  result. 

There  has  been  a  decided  increase  of  enlightened  piety,  sound 
doctrine,  and  earnest  zeal,  among  the  various  Dissenting  Bodies. 
This  is  confessed  on  all  Hands,  by  well-informed  men  in  England. 


224  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

And  what  sliall  we  say  of  Scotland  ?  There  has  been  un- 
questionably a  great  resuscitation  of  the  Truth  in  the  land  of 
John  Knox.  How  strikingly  the  wonderful  movement  which 
issued  in  the  disruption  in  the  National  Church,  and  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Free  Church,  illustrates  and  establishes  this  fact! 
The  interests  of  true  Religion  have  made  wonderful  progress  in 
North  Britain  since  the  year  1815.  The  Minor  Presbyterian 
bodies  there,  and  also  the  Independents,  the  Wesleyans,  and 
other  Dissenters,  have  felt  the  genial  influence,  and  are  manifest- 
ing effects  in  their  increased  exertions  in  behalf  of  the  Kingdom 
of  their  Lord. 

As  to  Ireland,  true  religion  has  decidedly  increased  among 
the  Presbyterians  in  the  North,  as  well  as  among  the  1600 
ministers  and  congregations  of  the  Established  Church.  More 
is  now  doing  by  pious  Protestants  in  that  country  for  the  diffu- 
sion of  the  Truth  and  the  conversion  of  the  adherents  of  Rome, 
than  had  been  attempted  for  a  long  time.  This  is  encouraging. 
Nor  are  their  efforts  without  success. 

The  Continent  of  Europe. — If  we  cross  over  to  the  Continent, 
we  shall  find  that  the  same  blessed  resuscitation  is  going  on  in 
every  Protestant  country — slowly,  silently,  but  surely.  There 
is  evidence  of  this  in  Holland.  The  spirit  of  true  piety  and 
sound  doctrine  is  gaining  ground  in  the  several  Protestant  Com- 
munions in  that  country,  and  especially  in  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church,  the  most  important  of  them  all.  Within  a  few  years, 
much  has  been  done  to  spread  the  sacred  Scriptures  and  re- 
ligious tracts  in  that  country,  by  means  of  colportage.  Two  of 
the  most  active  Christians  in  that  land  are  Messrs.  Da  Costa 
and  Coppadoce,  converted  Israelites.  It  is  said  that  there  are 
about  120  churches,  mostly  small,  composed  of  those  who  have 
within  a  few  years  separated  from  the  Established  Church,  be- 
cause they  could  not  find  that  s],)iritual  instruction  there  which 
they  needed. 

The  state  of  things  is  deplorable  enough  in  Germany  ;  but 


AND    REGISTER.  225 

that  true  religion  is  looking  up  in  the  "  Land  of  the  Reformation" 
is  certainly  undeniable.  Error,  as  in  England,  becomes  greater, 
— in  its  greater  departure  from  the  truth,  and  not  really  in  the 
augmented  number  of  its  adherents — whilst  truth  becomes  more 
developed.  There  is  a  far  greater  number  of  professors  in  the 
more  than  twenty  universities  of  that  country,  who  teach  the 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation  ;  and  there  is  a  far  greater  number 
of  students  who  receive  them,  and  of  pastors  who  preach  them, 
than  there  was  at  the  commencement  of  this  century,  or  than 
there  was  even  twenty  years  ago.  What  number,  however,  of 
the  more  than  16,000  Protestant  ministers  of  that  country  hold 
and  preach  the  primitive  Gospel,  God  only  can  know.  We 
have  heard  it  estimated  very  variously — at  from  1000  up  to 
2000.  We  do  not  believe  that  there  were  200  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century. 

The  same  thing  may  be  asserted  of  the  Scandinavian  coun- 
tries — Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Finland.  The  last 
named  is  now  a  part  of  the  Russian  Empire,  but  enjoys  in  a 
great  degree  her  own  law^s,  and  almost  exclusively  her  own  re- 
ligion, which  has  been  Protestant  since  the  days  of  Gustavus 
Vasa,  when  Finland  was  united  with  Sweden. 

In  all  those  countries  the  Truth  is  gradually  recovering  the 
ground  which  it  had  lost.  This  has  been  brought  about  by  the 
increased  circulation  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  by  the  diffu- 
sion of  religious  tracts,  through  the  agency  of  the  Bible  and 
Tract  societies.  The  writer  of  these  lines  has  been  several  times 
in  all  the  Scandinavian  countries  since  the  year  1836,  and  can 
assure  the  reader  that  he  but  expresses  the  opinions  of  many  of 
the  best  men  in  them  all,  whom  it  has  fallen  to  his  lot  to  meet 
with. 

This  same  blessed  work  is  silently  going  forward,  slowly  in- 
deed, but  steadily — among  the  Protestant  churches  in  Poland, 
in  Hungary,  in  the  Germanic  parts  of  Austria,  and  in  the  Baltic 
Provinces  of  Russia. 

10^ 


226  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

It  has  been  more  visible  in  the  Protestant  Cantons  of  Switzer- 
hmd,  among  the  Protestants  of  France,  and  amid  the  Waldenses 
in  Italy. 

These  statements  are  general,  but  they  are  true,  and  should 
excite  to  grateful  thanksgiving  to  God ;  to  earnest  prayer  in  be- 
half of  the  good  work,  that  it  may  advance  more  rapidly ;  and 
to  co-operation,  in  all  practicable  ways,  whenever  our  aid  can  be 
made  to  advance  the  interests  of  truth  in  those  countries.  The 
conversion  of  the  world  demands  the  regeneration  of  Christen- 
dom, and  the  regeneration  of  Christendom  will  be  effected 
through  the  recovery  of  the  truth  and  power  of  the  Gospel  on 
the  part  of  the  Protestant  churches. 

In  the  chapters  which  follow,  we  shall  show  what  have  been 
the  effects  of  this  blessed  resuscitation  of  true  religion  in  the 
Protestant  churches, — in  both  hemispheres — upon  Christendom 
and  the  World. 


CHAPTEK  lY. 

SOCIETIES  FOR   THE   DIFFUSION"  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES- 
EASTERN   HEMISPHERE. 

Efforts  for  the  diffusion  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  were  coeval 
with  the  revival  of  pure  Christianity  in  every  part  of  the  world 
where  it  occurred.  But  the  organization  of  religious  associations 
for  this  purpose  is  comparatively  a  modern  enterprise.  Several  of 
the  societies  founded  in  Great  Britain,  during  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, for  the  diffusion  of  Christian  truth,  contemplated  as  a  part 
of  their  work  the  dissemination  of  the  Scriptures.  The  Societies 
"for  promoting  Christian  Knowledge"  (founded  1696),  "for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts"  (1701),  "for  pro- 
moting Religious  Knowledge  among  the  Poor"  (1750),  and  the 
"  Society  in  Scotland  for  promoting  Christian  Knowledge" 
(1709),  were  all  of  this  character.  There  was  also  a  Bible  So- 
ciety (founded  1780)  for  the  supply  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of 
Great  Britain,  another  (1792)  for  the  Circulation  of  Bibles  in 
France,  and  an  association  "  for  the  Support  and  Encourage- 
ment of  Sunday  Schools"  (1785).  These,  however,  wereefiforts 
either  limited  to  particular  districts,  or  secondary  to  a  distinct, 
though  homogeneous  enterprise. 

SECTION  I. 

Great  Britain. — The  primary  occasion  of  those  measures  out 
of  which  grew  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  was 
the  scarcity  of  Bibles  in  the  Principality  of  Wales.     This  scar- 


228  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

city  had  attracted  some  notice  as  early  as  the  year  1787,  and 
letters  were  written  on  the  subject  by  several  clergymen  with  a 
view  to  obtain  a  supply.  "When  I  was  in  Wales  last,"  says 
one  of  these  writers,  "  I  heard  great  complaining  amongst  the 
poor  for  want  of  Bibles,  and  that  there  were  none  to  be  had  for 
money."  The  first  attempts,  however,  to  meet  this  exigency 
were  unsuccessful.  In  1799,  the  Society  for  promoting  Chris- 
tian Knowledge,  issued  an  edition  of  the  Welsh  Bible  to  the 
amount  of  ten  thousand  copies,  with  two  thousand  extra  Testa- 
ments. But  thirty  years  had  elapsed  since  the  printing  of  the 
last  edition,  and  this  supply  was  altogether  inadequate  to  the 
demand.  The  new  edition  was  almost  immediately  bought  up, 
and  large  districts  were  still  unprovided  for.  If  the  joy  of  those 
who  were  successful  in  obtaining  copies  was  excessive,  the  grief 
of  the  many  who  failed  of  it  fell  little  short  of  anguish.  "  Their 
expressions  of  regret,"  stated  a  clergyman  who  had  witnessed 
this  disappointment,  "  were  truly  afFecting."=^ 

It  was  in  this  connection  that  occurred  the  touching  incident 
which  seems  to  have  been  the  immediate  occasion,  under  God, 
of  the  plan  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of  this  society.  In 
the  year  1802,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Charles,  of  Bala,  in  Wales, 
was  walking  in  one  of  the  streets  of  that  town,  when  he  met  a 
child  who  attended  his  ministry.  He  inquired  if  she  could  re- 
peat the  text  from  which  he  had  preached  on  the  preceding 
Sunday.  Instead  of  giving  a  prompt  reply,  as  she  had  been 
accustomed  to  do,  she  remained  silent.  "Can  you  not  tell  me 
the  text,  my  little  girl  ?"  repeated  Mr.  Charles.  The  child  wept, 
but  was  still  silent.  At  length  she  said,  "  The  weather,  sir,  has 
been  so  bad  that  I  could  not  get  to  read  the  Bible."  This  re- 
mark surprised  the  good  man,  and  he  exclaimed,  "  Could  you 
not  get  to  read  the  Bible !  how  was  that  ?"     The  reason  was 

*  Owen's  History  of  the  Origin  and  First  Ten  Years  of  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  chap.  I. 


AND    REGISTER.  229 

soon  ascertained.  There  was  no  copy  to  wliicli  she  could  gain 
access,  either  at  her  own  home  or  among  her  friends,  and  she 
^vt^as  accustomed  to  travel  every  week  seven  miles  over  the  hills 
to  a  place,  where  she  could  obtain  a  Welsh  Bible,  to  read  the 
chapter  from  which  the  minister  took  his  text.  But  during  that 
week  the  cold  and  stormy  weather  had  prevented  her  usual 
journey.  Surely  "the  Word  of  the  Lord  was  precious  in  those 
days"  to  this  lamb  in  the  Saviour's  fold.* 

The  proposition  was  first  made  in  December,  1802,  by  Mr. 
Charles  and  Mr.  Tarn,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Religious  Tract  Society,  to  form  a  separate  society,  whose  de- 
sign should  be,  "  to  promote  the  circulation  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures in  foreign  countries,  and  in  those  parts  of  the  British  do- 
minions for  which  adequate  provision  is  not  yet  made."  Various 
measures  succeeded  this  resolution,  until,  in  January,  1804,  the 
conductors  of  the  enterprise,  prominent  among  whom  were  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  Hughes  and  Steinkopff,  and  Mr.  Joseph  Tarn,  con- 
vened a  public  meeting  for  the  1th.  of  March,  in  that  year.  At 
this  meeting,  held  at  the  "  London  Tavern,"  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society"  was  established,  and  a  committee  of 
thirty-six  members  elected.  The  Society  received  before  long  the 
approbation  of  many  of  the  prelates  of  the  English  Established 
Church,  and  of  several  Synods  of  the  Scottish  Establishment, 
and  secured  the  faithful  co-operation  of  its  first  excellent  presi- 
dent. Lord  Teignmouth. 

A  correspondence  was  forthwith  opened  with  leading  men  in 
various  countries  of  the  Continent,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  the 
want  that  might  exist  in  those  quarters,  of  such  operations  as 
the  Society  contemplated.  As  the  first  fruits  of  this  correspon- 
dence, the  Nuremburg  Bible  Society  was  founded.  Among 
the  replies  ehcited,  was  one  of  the  most  friendly  nature  from  a 

*  Jubilee  Memorial  of  the  Religious  Tract  Society:  London,  1850, 
p.  46. 


230  CIIIUSTIAN    RETROSI'ECT 

Romau  Catholic  priest,  in  Suabia.  A  Roman  Catliolic  Bible 
Society  was  shortly  after  established  at  Ratisbon.  The  Berlin 
Society  (1806),  the  Russian  Society  (1813),  and  the  Danish 
Society  (1814),  followed. 

The  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  has  encountered  at 
difierent  periods,  but  especially  within  the  first  few  years  of  its 
existence,  no  small  amount  of  opposition.  The  source  of  this 
opposition  has  been  almost  wholly  among  the  less  evangelical 
portion  of  the  clergy  and  members  of  the  Church  of  England. 
The  ground  of  it  lay  chiefly  in  the  fact,  that  the  Society  was  not 
a  "  Church"  institution,  and  that  Dissenters  were  associated  in  it 
with  the  members  of  the  Established  Communion.  It  may  be 
added,  that  although  the  Bible  Society  has  never  been  without 
its  warm  supporters  among  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, the  larger  number  of  its  prelates  have  stood  aloof  from 
the  enterprise.  Of  this  party  the  "  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge"  is  understood  to  be  the  organ. 

A  more  reasonable  motive  for  disagreement,  was  to  be  found 
in  the  early  j^osition  of  the  Society  relative  to  the  uncanonical 
books  of  Scripture.  Previous  to  the  year  1826,  it  had  aided  in 
circulating  (more  particularly  in  Roman  Catholic  countries,  and 
with  a  view  to  facilitate  the  dissemination  of  the  Scriptures  un- 
der Roman  Cathohc  auspices)  editions  of  the  Bible  containing 
the  Apocrypha.  This  course  could  not  but  be  distasteful  to 
many  of  the  friends  of  the  institution  at  home ;  and  the  agita- 
tion of  the  subject  resulted  finally  in  the  adoption  of  three  reso- 
lutions, which  confined  the  Society,  for  the  future,  to  the  circu- 
lation of  the  canonical  books. 

We  cannot  enter  at  any  length  into  the  history  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  Their  extent 
and  importance  would  claim  too  large  a  space  in  this  sketch. 
We  must  be  satisfied  with  a  brief  view  of  the  results  of  this 
great  and  blessed  institution,  as  they  may  be  gathered  from  the 
following  statistics. 


AND    REGISTER.  231 

The  number  of  languages  and  dialects,  in  which  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society  has  promoted,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
the  distribution,  printing  or  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  is  one 
hundred  and  forty -four.  This  has  been  done  :  directly,  in  eighty- 
five  languages  or  dialects  ;  and  indirectly,  in  fifty-nine.  The 
whole  number  of  versions  made  (omitting  those  which  are 
printed  in  different  characters  only)  is  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
six.  Of  these,  one  hundred  and  fourteen  are  translations  never 
before  printed. 

The  number  of  copies  of  the  Scriptures  issued  by  the  So- 
ciety, from  the  beginning,  has  been  twenty-three  million  one 
hundred  and  ten  thousand  and  fifty.  Of  this  amount,  over 
eight  million  eight  hundred  and  forty  thousand  were  copies  of 
the  Bible ;  and  the  remaining  number  of  the  New  Testament 
only.  The  issue  for  the  last  year  alone,  was  one  million  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  six  hundred  and  ninety-five. 

The  expenditures  of  the  Society,  from  the  beginning,  amount 
to  no  less  than  three  million  six  hundred  and  forty-eight  thou- 
sand pounds  sterhng,  or  $1*7,800,000.  Its  annual  expenditures 
have  risen  as  high  as  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  thousand 
pounds ;  for  the  last  year,  however,  they  were  ninety-seven 
thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-six  pounds  ('^464, 560).=^ 

Connected  with  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  there 
are  three  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-eight  auxiliaries, 
branches,  and  associations,  in  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies. 
This  number  does  not  include  the  auxiliaries  of  the  Hibernian 
Bible  Society,  which  has  four  hundred  and  ninety-nine  ;  nor 
the  various  independent  societies  that  have  arisen  under  its  fos- 
tering care,  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  in  India  and  Amer- 
ica. These  societies,  sixty-two  in  number,  have  sprung  up  for 
the  most  part  in  the  German  States.  We  shall  speak  of  them 
with  greater  detail  in  another  chapter. 

The  Edinburgh  Bible  Society  was  originally  an  auxiliary  of  the 
*  Forty-sixth  Report  of  the  B.  and  F.  Bible  Society,  1850. 


232  CIiniSTIAN    RETROSrECT 

British  and  Foreign;  having  been  organized  in  the  year  1809 
but  in   1830,  the  controversy  respecting  the  Apocrypha   occa 
sioned  its  separation,  and  since  that  time  it  has  been  entirely  in- 
dependent.    It  has  a  number  of  auxiharies,  and  has  been  very 
successful  in  promoting  the  circulation  of  the  word  of  God. 

Besides  its  operations  through  the  medium  of  these  corre- 
sponding bodies,  the  Bible  Society  employs,  in  various  countries, 
its  agents  and  colporteurs  for  the  more  immediate  dissemination 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Its  foreign  agents,  having  the  superin- 
tendence of  Bible  depots,  are  stationed  at  Paris,  Brussels,  Am- 
sterdam, Breda,  Frankfort,  Cologne,  Stockholm,  Christiania,  and 
other  towns  in  Norway,  and  at  St.  Petersburg.  There  are  also 
depots  at  Odessa,  Constantinople,  Smyrna,  Athens,  Corfu,  Malta, 
Gibraltar,  and  other  [)laces.  The  agents  are,  for  the  most  part, 
men  of  great  activity  and  zeal,  whose  names  are  well  known 
among  us,  such  as  M.  Pressense,  at  Paris,  M.  Tiddy,  in  Bel- 
gium, Dr.  Pinkerton,  in  Germany,  Mr.  Lowndes,  at  Malta,  and 
others.  The  celebrated  George  Borrow  was  for  some  years  an 
agent  of  the  Society,  in  Spain  and  elsewhere.  Its  colporteurs 
are  generally  men  of  humble  circumstances,  but  of  good  char- 
acter, who  spend  their  whole  time  in  visiting  families  and  places 
of  resort,  to  offer  the  Scriptures  for  sale  at  reduced  prices. 
Eighty-one  of  these  laborers  are  employed  in  France. alone; 
twenty  in  Germany  ;  and  several  in  Belgium,  Holland,  Switzer- 
land, Sweden,  Italy,  and  Hungary ; — in  all,  about  one  hundred 
and  thirty.  Of  the  fruits  of  this  system  of  Bible  dissemination,  we 
cannot  speak  at  large.  They  are  already  visible  to  a  most  en- 
couraging extent,  in  France  and  Italy  more  particularly,  in  the 
increase  of  interest  in  religious  matters,  and  of  readiness  to  re- 
ceive and  embrace  the  Gospel,  which  is  evinced  so  generally 
throughout  the  population. 

The  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  is  at  present  under  the 
presidency  of  Lord  Bexley ;  its  first  efficient  president  having 
died  in  1834.    In  the  course  of  that  year  and  the  preceding 


AND    REGISTER.  233 

one,  this  institution  also  lost  three  of  its  most  devoted  friends : 
Joseph  Hughes,  its  first  Secretary  ;  William  Wilberforce,  one  of 
its  Vice-Pre*^idents ;  and  Hannah  More.  It  now  numbers 
among  its  officers  nineteen  prelates  of  the  Church  of  England  ; 
the  excellent  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  being  one  of  them 
The  names  of  the  Treasurer,  and  Secretary — John  Thornton, 
Esq.,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Brandram — are  also  widely  known. 

The  interests  of  this  noble  association  are  dear  to  every 
Christian  heart.  If  there  be  one  organization  whose  history  is 
peculiarly  identified  with  the  commencement  and  progress  of 
the  century  in  which  we  hve,  and  whose  prosperity  we  regard 
as  intimately  connected  with  the  increase  of  pure  religion  in  the 
present  age,  it  is  certainly  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 
Long  may  it  continue,  with  its  kindred  societies,  to  carry  for- 
ward the  standard  of  our  Reformed  Faith,  in  the  spirit  of  its 
ancient  motto :  "  The  Bible  is  the  Religion  of  Protestants." 


SECTION  II. 

Other  countries  of  Europe. — On  the  continent  of  Europe  there 
have  been  formed  at  various  periods  since  the  origin  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  a  number  of  independent 
societies  of  a  nature  similar  to  it ;  nearly  all  of  which  have  borne 
more  or  less  intimate  relations  with  that  body.  We  have 
mentioned  several  of  these  associations  in  a  preceding  connec- 
tion ;  and  at  the  conclusion  of  this  chapter  will  be  found  a  hst 
of  the  Bible  Societies  extant,  with  the  date  of  their  formation 
and  the  amount  of  their  issues. 

Of  the  more  important  of  these  Bible  Societies  on  the  con- 
tinent, we  will  here  mention  only  the  French  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  instituted  at  Paris  in  1833.  The  comparatively  feeble 
churches  of  France  have  nobly  engaged  in  almost  every  branch 
of  Christian  benevolence  ;  and  although  their  efforts  cannot  be 


234  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

measured  by  tliose  of  British  and  American  Cliristians,  tliey  are 
more  thau  proportionate  to  tlieir  resources.  At  the  time  of  the 
foundation  of  this  Society,  there  ah-eady  existed  in  France  a 
"Protestant  Bible  Society,"  instituted  in  1818,  and  which  still 
continues.  But  by  a  singular  provision  in  its  constitution, 
that  association  is  restricted  to  the  circulatino^  of  Bibles  amonoj 
professed  Protestants.  The  evangelizing  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
population  formed  no  part  of  the  plan  adopted  by  those  who 
founded  the  Protestant  Bible  Society ;  and  indeed  it  has  been 
supported  mainly  by  that  portion  of  the  French  Protestants  who 
are  not  regarded  as  evangelical  in  their  religious  principles. 

The  French  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  has  been  considerably 
assisted  in  its  operations  by  the  British  and  American  Societies. 
The  former,  in"  addition  to  its  liberal  grants  to  the  French  Bible 
Society,  supports  at  Paris  an  agency,  which  during  the  year 
1849-50  put  into  circulation  over  one  hundred  and  eight  thou- 
sand copies  of  the  Scriptures  ;  and  has  circulated  in  all  nearly 
two  millions  of  copies  within  the  last  seventeen  years.  The 
latter  has  from  time  to  time  made  large  donations  to  the 
French  Society;  in  the  year  1848-9  it  voted  a  grant  of  ten 
thousand  dollars  ;  and  has  promised  another  similar  grant. 

The  number  of  copies  of  the  Scriptures  issued  by  the  French 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society  during  the  year  1849-50  was  eighty- 
seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-nine  ;  making  the  total 
amount  of  its  issues  from  the  beginning  nine  hundred  and  five 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-nine. 

The  income  of  this  Society  for  the  last  year  was  one  hundred 
and  eleven  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-three  francs 
($20,622),  In  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  it  employs 
a  number  of  colporteurs  ;  an  instrumentality  which  has  been 
remarkably  successful  in  France,  where  more  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  these  laborers  are  at  present  supported  by  the  Bible 
Societies,  and  the  Evangelical  Society  of  Geneva. 

The  president  of  this  Society  is  the  talented  and  pious  Count 


AND    REGISTER..  235 

de  Gasparin ;  among  its  secretaries  and  directors,  are  Count  de 
Laborde,  Rev.  Mr.  Burnier,  and  Rev.  Drs.  Monod  and  Grand 
pierre. 

SECTION  III. 

Asia. — In  the  several  "  presidencies"  of  British  India,  there 
have  been  formed,  from  time  to  time,  associations  corresponding 
with  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  for  the  dissemination 
of  the  Scriptures  in  that  country.  The  first  of  these,  in  order  of 
date,  was  the  Calcutta  Bible  Society,  instituted  in  1811.  This 
society,  with  its  various  branches,  has  distributed  more  than  six 
hundred  thousand  copies  of  the  word  of  God.  The  Bombay 
Society,  established  in  1813,  has  distributed  about  one  hundred 
and  eighty-two  thousand  copies  ;  the  Madras  Society,  established 
in  1820,  five  hundred  and  seventy-four  thousand;  and  the 
North  India  Society,  instituted  at  Agra  in  1845,  nearly  thirty- 
four  thousand  copies. 

In  the  island  of  Ceylon,  there  are  two  Bible  Societies — at 
Colombo  and  Jaffna — the  former  of  which,  instituted  in  1812, 
has  a  number  of  branches.  The  amount  of  their  issues  is  about 
one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  copies. 

A  correspondence  with  these  bodies  has  lately  been  entered 
into  by  the  committee  of  the  parent  society,  on  the  subject  of  a 
proposition  made  by  the  Rev.  W.  Arthur,  to  give  to  every  fam- 
ily in  India  a  portion  of  the  word  of  God.  Communications  of 
much  interest  have  been  received  in  reply ;  but  the  prevailing 
sentiment  seems  to  be,  that  the  measure  is  not  at  present  prac- 
ticable in  its  full  extent;  whilst  the  earnest  desire  exists  to  carry 
it  out  as  far  as  circumstances  may  allow. 

In  nearly  every  other  country  occupied  by  the  various  mis- 
sionary societies  of  Europe  and  America,  as  a  field  of  labor, 
there  have  been  extensive  efforts  for  the  distribution  of  the 
Scriptures ;  and  in  many  of  thera,  associations  auxiliary  to  the 


236  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

British  and  other  Bible  Societies,  have  been  formed  and  success- 
fully carried  on.  Thus  iu  New  South  Wales,  Australia,  New 
Zealand,  and  the  South  Sea  islands,  there  are  flourihning  aux- 
iliaries ;  as  also  in  British  North  America.  It  is  unnecessary, 
however,  to  enter  into  detail  respecting  their  operations,  as  they 
are  included  in  the  general  statements  already  made  respecting 
the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 


SECTION  IV. 

WESTERN   HEMISPHERE. 

United  States. — ^The  earhest  movement  of  any  importance  in 
the  United  States,  for  supplying  the  people  with  copies  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  was  made  by  the  Congress  of  1*7 7 7.  In  an- 
swer to  a  memorial  on  the  scarcity  of  Bibles  throughout  the 
country,  that  body  proceeded  to  appoint  a  committee  to  advise 
as  to  the  expediency  of  printing  an  edition  of  thirty  thousand 
copies.  It  was  thought  best,  instead  of  printing,  to  import  a 
sufficient  supply  ;  which  was  accordingly  ordered.  Again,  in 
1781,  the  subject  was  brought  before  Congress;  and  a  resolu- 
tion was  adopted,  approving  and  recommending  to  the  people 
an  edition  of  the  Bible  then  just  published  at  Philadelphia. 

These  interesting  historical  facts  show,  that  there  was  no 
want  of  attention,  even  at  this  early  period,  to  the  importance 
of  disseminating  the  word  of  God  in  this  country. 

Prior  to  the  formation  of  the  American  Bible  Society, 
there  existed  various  local  associations  of  a  similar  nature.  The 
example  of  English  Christians,  and  the  loud  call  for  a  more  eX' 
tensive  plan  of  operations,  had  also  enforced  upon  many  minds 
the  necessity  of  forming  a  general,  national  organization  for  the 
systematic  distribution  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  subject 
was  agitated  for  several  years  ;  until  in  1815,  a  project  to  this 


AND    REGISTER.  23*7 

effect  was  drawn  up  by  the  New  Jersey  Bible  Society,  and  was 
sent  to  the  sister  societies  for  concurrence.  A  general  meeting 
was  finally  ajopointed,  to  be  held  at  New  York,  in  May,  1816. 

Of  the  causes  which  prepared  the  way  for  the  establishment 
of  the  American  Bible  Society,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beecher,  one  of  its 
earliest  friends,  says  : — "  The  first,  no  doubt,  was  the  existence 
and  prosperous  operations  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  So- 
ciety. The  second  was  the  foreign  missionary  spirit  that  was 
awakened  a  few  years  anterior ;  and  the  organization  of  the 
Foreign  Missionary  Society.  The  primary  agent  in  this  move- 
ment, I  am  well  assured,  was  the  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Mills  ;  in 
whose  heart  the  fire  of  foreign  missions  first  burned  for  several 
years.  In  his  travels  West  and  South,  he  had  the  organization 
of  an  American  Bible  Society  at  heart.  It  was  by  personal 
conversation,  I  doubt  not,  with  thousands  of  the  most  influential 
men  all  over  our  nation,  and  addressing,  when  he  had  opportu- 
nity, ecclesiastical  bodies,  that  he  prepared  the  way  for  a  har- 
monious concurrence  in  favor  of  the  organization  when  the  con- 
vention met."* 

At  this  convention,  on  the  11th  of  May,  1816,  the  American 
Bible  Society  was  organized.  "  It  was  a  sublime  spectacle," 
says  the  writer  from  whom  we  have  just  quoted.  "  Each  one 
had  his  own  mind  prepared  by  an  agency  which  he  had  scarcely 
recognized,  and  of  whose  ubiquitous  influence  he  had  no  knowl- 
edge. We  came  to  the  meeting  in  great  weakness,  humility, 
and  prayer ;  feeling  the  difficulties  in  combining  all  denomina- 
tions ;  and  feeling  every  one  the  necessity  of  keeping  his  heart 
and  tongue,  and  walking  very  softly,  lest  a  spark  of  unhallowed 
fire  falling  on  a  train,  it  should  explode.  We  felt  that  the 
place  was  holy  where  we  stood,  and  that  God  was  there ;  and 
our  fears  were  not  realized,  and  our  hopes  were  surpassed  ex- 
ceedingly abundantly,  so  cordial  was  our  unity." 

*  History  of  the  Am.  Bible  Society ;  by  W.  P.  Strickland  ;  p.  26. 


238  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

The  first  president  of  the  Society  was  the  lion.  Elias  Boudi- 
not.  Among  the  vice-presidents  were  some  of  the  most  emi- 
nent statesmen  of  the  day.  The  secretaries  were  the  Rev.  Drs. 
Mason  and  Romeyn. 

The  local  societies  which  were  in  existence  at  the  date  of  the 
formation  of  the  national  society,  speedily  connected  themselves 
with  it  as  auxiharies.  During  the  first  year  of  its  existence, 
eighty-four  associations  were  thus  annexed. 

The  operations  of  the  American  Bible  Society  at  home  have 
been  mainly  carried  on  through  the  auxiliary  associations  con- 
nected with  it.  One  of  its  regulations  has  been,  to  distribute 
no  Bibles  gratuitously,  except  through  the  auxiliaries,  as  the 
proper  media  of  its  benefactions.  The  number  of  these  associa- 
tions has  increased  yearly  at  a  rapid  rate,  and  now  amounts  to 
more  than  twelve  hundred,  with  about  twenty-five  hundred 
branches,  located  in  all  the  States  and  territories  of  the  Union. 
Among  the  more  important  of  them  we  may  mention  the  New 
York,  New  York  Female,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Cincinnati, 
and  Louisville  Bible  Societies.  To  organize  such  associations, 
explore  unoccupied  fields,  and  collect  funds,  agents  are  employ- 
ed, of  whom  there  are  at  present  twenty-seven.  Much  of  the 
prosperity  of  the  institution  has  been  owing,  under  the  Divine 
blessing,  to  the  faithful  labors  of  these  agents.  No  colporteurs 
or  distributors  of  Bibles  are  employed  directly  by  the  Society ; 
but  under  the  direction  of  the  auxiliaries,  a  number  of  such 
laborers  are  at  work. 

Through  instrumentalities  of  this  nature,  the  Scriptures  have 
also  been  widely  circulated  among  sjjccial  classes  of  our  popula- 
tion,— in  the  prisons  and  hospitals, — among  seamen  and  boat- 
men,— in  the  army  and  navy, — among  the  colored  people  in 
the  South, — and  the  Indians  in  the  West.  Through  the  vari- 
ous missionary  organizations,  too,  the  American  Bible  Society 
has  contributed  largely  to  the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  in 
the  Roman  Catholic  countries  of  Europe,  South  America,  and 


AND    REGISTER.  239 

Mexico,  and  in  China,  India,  Ceylon,  Africa,  the  Levant,  &c. 
This  has  been  done  partly  by  grants  of  books,  and  partly  by 
appropriations  in  money,  for  the  specific  purpose  of  Bible  dis- 
tribution. The  total  amount  of  remittances  made,  in  money, 
has  been  about  $330,000,  which  must  have  put  into  circulation 
some  700,000  Bibles,  or  portions  of  the  Bible,  in  about  sixty 
different  languages. 

Of  the  versions  of  the  Bible  issued  by  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  the  American  Bible  Society  has  aided  in  publish- 
ing, or  has  purchased  and  circulated  copies  of  several.  It  has 
also  been  at  the  sole  expense  of  publishing  the  Armeno-Turkish 
Bible  and  the  Modern  Syriac,  the  Hebrew-Spanish  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  Modern  Armenian  Bible.  It  has,  moreover,  pub- 
lished the  entire  Hawaiian  Bible  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the 
Modern  Greek  New  Testament,  the  Ojibwa  Testament,  and  the 
Choctaw  Testament,  two  of  the  Gospels  in  the  Sioux  Dingon 
tongue,  the  books  of  Genesis  and  Isaiah  in  Mohawk,  one  of  the 
Gospels  in  Seneca,  two  in  Cherokee,  one  in  the  Grebo,  and  the 
book  of  Acts  in  the  Arrowacb.* 

The  number  of  copies  of  the  Scripture  issued  by  this  Society, 
from  the  beginning,  has  been  six  million  nine  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-five.  Of  these  more 
than  two  million  seven  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  were 
Bibles,  and  the  remaining  number  Testaments.  For  the  last 
year  alone  the  Society  issued  six  hundred  and  thirty-three  thou- 
sand three  hundred  and  ninety-five  copies. 

The  receipts  of  the  Society  for  the  last  year  amount  to  two 
hundred  and  eighty-four  thousand  six  hundred  and  fourteen 
dollars.  This  sum  shows  an  increase  of  thirty-two  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  forty-four  dollars  over  the  receipts  of  the 
preceding  year  (1848-9).  It  is  also  considerably  larger  than 
the  income  of  any  previous  year.     The  total  amount  of  the  So- 

*  Thirty-Fourth  Report  of  the  Am.  Bible  Society,  1850. 


240  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

ciety's  receipts,  from  the  beginning,  is  three  million  eight  hun- 
dred and  forty-four  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty-six  dol- 
lars. 

Nearly  all  of  the  officers  appointed  at  the  organization  of  the 
American  Bible  Society  have  been  removed  by  death.  The 
present  president  is  the  Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  LL.D. 
Amongst  the  vice-presidents  are  several  distinguished  jurists  and 
statesmen.  The  secretaries  are  the  Rev.  Drs.  Brigham  and 
Iloldich. 

This  institution  is  at  present  in  a  highly-flourishing  condition. 
The  ability  and  efficiency  of  its  conductors,  and  the  liberality  of 
its  friends,  have  been  already  blessed  of  God  in  its  great  pros- 
perity and  usefulness.  Its  operations  and  influence  are  s-till  on 
the  increase,  and  the  firm  hold  which  it  has  secured  upon  the 
general  confidence  of  the  churches,  encourages  us  to  hope  that 
a  wide  and  glorious  career  is  yet  opening  before  it.      ♦ 

American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. — The  American  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society  was  formed  by  the  secession  of  members 
of  the  Baptist  denomination  from  the  American  Bible  Society. 
This  secession  occurred  in  the  year  1836,  and  under  the 
following  circumstances.  A  letter  was  received  from  Mr.  Pearce, 
a  Baptist  missionary  at  Calcutta,  inquiring  whether  aid  could  be 
obtained  in  printing  the  Bengalee  Scriptures,  translated  on  the 
principle  adopted  by  the  American  Baptist  missionaries  in 
Burmah.  This  proposition  was  submitted  in  August,  1835,  to 
the  Board  of  Managers,  and  was  by  them  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee ;  who  reported  that  it  would  be  inexpedient  to  recom- 
mend appropriations,  until  the  Board  should  settle  a  principle 
in  relation  to  the  translation  of  the  word  haptizo.  This  report 
was  concurred  in  ;  and  another  committee  was  appointed,  who 
reported  that  it  was  inexpedient  to  appropriate  the  funds  of  the 
Society  m  aid  of  translating  or  distributing  the  Bengalee  New 
Testament  or  any  other  version  containing  translations  of  the 
Greek  word  haptizo  and  its  cognates.     The  reasons  given  for 


AND    REGISTER.  241 

tliis  decision  were  chiefly  that  such  a  translation  would  neces- 
sarily impede  the  operations  of  missionaries  of  other  denomina- 
tions in  India ;  and  that  it  was  not  competent  for  the  American 
Bible  Society  to  assume  a  sectarian  attitude  by  favoring  the 
denominational  views  of  any  particular  church,  whether  at  home 
or  abroad.  A  protest  against  this  decision  was  presented  by 
the  dissenting  members  of  the  Board;  and  it  was  forthwith 
resolved  by  them  to  call  a  convention  of  the  Baptist  denomina- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  distinct  Bible  Society. 
Accordingly,  such  a  meeting  took  place  at  New  York  on  the 
12th  of  May,  1836,  and  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  was  organized.* 

Much  of  the  labor  of  this  Society  has  been  expended  upon 
foreign  fields,  in  connection  with  the  missions  of  the  Baptist 
denomination.  Thus  its  appropriations  for  the  last  year,  to  the 
American  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  for  the  issue  of  the  Karen, 
Assamese,  Siamese,  Chinese  and  Teloogoo  Scriptures,  and  for 
Bible  distribution  in  Germany  and  France,  amounted  to  nearly 
seventeen  thousand  dollars.  The  largest  grant  was  to  Mr. 
Oncken,  in  Germany,  where  the  operations  of  the  Society  are 
the  most  extensive. 

Besides  direct  appropriations  to  missionary  fields,  the  Ameri- 
can and  Foreign  Bible  Society  acts  through  the  medium  of 
auxiliary  associations,  of  which  there  are  three  hundred  and 
sixteen  in  connection  with  it.  By  this  instrumentality  also  the 
funds  of  the  institution,  are  to  a  great  extent  collected. 

The  receipts  of  this  Society  for  the  year  1849-50  amounted 
to  forty-one  thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars ; 
being  an  advance  of  more  than  three  thousand  dollars  over  the 
income  of  the  preceding  year,  which  was  itself  larger  than  that 
of  any  previous  one.  The  number  of  copies  of  the  Scriptures 
issued  by  it,  from  the  beginning,  is  seven  hundred  and  ninety- 
four  thousand  three  hundred  and  ninety-eight. 

*  Proceediugs  of  the  Bible  Convention  in  183Y. 
11 


242  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

A  controversy  has  lately  arisen  in  the  American  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  the  result  of  which  has  been  the  formation  of 
another  association,  by  some  of  its  leading  members.  This 
secession  was  occasioned  by  the  refusal  of  the  Society  to  publish 
a  new  translation  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  English  langiiage, 
with  a  view  to  a  more  correct  rendering  of  the  original.  Such 
a  translation,  it  was  contended  by  the  advocates  of  the  measure, 
was  required  in  consideration  of  the  defects  of  the  authorized 
version,  and  from  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  Society,  to 
diflfuse  the  Scriptures  in  the  most  faithful  and  accurate  transla- 
tions. To  carry  out  this  purpose,  the  "  American  Bible  Union" 
was  organized  at  New  York  on  the  10th  of  June,  1850,  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cone,  former  president  of  the 
American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  The  new  institution  held 
its  first  annual  meeting  in  October  of  the  same  year  ;  at  which 
date  its  subscriptions  (fee,  amounted  to  thirteen  thousand  three 
hundred  dollars.  Of  its  operations  little  can  be  said  as  yet; 
so  short  a  time  having  elapsed  since  its  foundation.  The 
avowed  object  of  the  Union  is  sufficiently  expansive — "  to  pro- 
cure and  circulate  the  most  faithful  versions  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  in  all  languages  throughout  the  world." 

SECTION  V. 

LIST    OF    BIBLE    SOCIETIES,  WITH    THE    AMOUNT  OF  THEIR  ISSUES. 

Bibles  and  Testa. 

1.  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  instituted 

1804 23,110,050 

2.  American  Bible  Society,  instituted  1816    .     .       6,980,535 

3.  American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  instituted 

1837 794,398 

WESTERN    EUROPE. 

4.  Protestant  Bible  Society  at  Paris,  instituted 

1818,  with  132  Auxiliaries 254,673 


AND    REGISTER.  243 

Bibles  and  Tests. 

6.  French  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  at  Paris,  in- 
stituted 1833,  with  Auxiliaries     ....  905,839 

6.  Strasburg   Bible    Society,  instituted  1815  — 

(chiefly  German  Bibles  and  Testaments)     .  71,503 

NORTHERN    EUROPE. 

1.  Icelandic  Bible  Society,  instituted  1815     .     .  10,445 

8.  Swedish  Bible  Society,  instituted  1809,  with 

Auxiliaries 638,427 

9.  Norwegian  Bible  Society,  instituted  1816     .  32,189 

10.  Stavanger  Bible  Society,  instituted  1828  .     .  7,017 

11.  Finnish  Bible  Society,  instituted  1812,  at  Abo, 

with  many  Branches 110,561 

12.  Danish  Bible   Society,  instituted  1814,  with 

Auxiliaries 193,692 

CENTRAL    EUROPE. 

13.  Netherlands  Bible  Society,  with  Auxiliaries   .  403,448 

14.  Belgium  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  at  Brus- 

sels, instituted  1834 7,623 

15.  Belgian  Bible  Associations,  instituted  1839    .  14,909 

16.  Antwerp  Bible  Society,  instituted  1834     .     .  439 

17.  Ghent  Bible  Society,  instituted  1834    .     .     .  8,980 

18.  Sleswick-Holstein    Bible    Society,    instituted 

1815,  with  Auxiliaries 125,826 

19.  Eutin  Bible  Society,  instituted  1817,  for  Prin- 

cipality of  Liibeck 5,296 

20.  Liibeck  Bible  Society,  instituted  1814  .     .     .  11,972 

21.  Hamburg- Altona    Bible    Society,    instituted 

1814,  with  Branches 93,792 

22.  Bremen  Bible  Society,  instituted  1815,  with 

an  Auxiliary 26,913 

23.  Lauenburgh-Ratzeburgh    Bible    Society,   in- 

stituted 1816 10,675 


244  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Bibles  and  Tests. 

24.  Rostock  Bible  Society,  instituted  1816     .     .  19,154 

25.  Hanover  Bible  Society,  instituted  1814,  with 

Auxiliaries 125,539 

26.  Lippe-Detraold  Bible  Society,  instituted  1816  3,569 

27.  Waldeck   and  Pyrmont  Bible  Society,  insti- 

tuted 1817 2,800 

28.  Hesse-Cassel  Bible  Society,  instituted  1818    .  30,000 

29.  Ilanau  Bible  Society,  instituted  1818  .     .     .  3,316 

30.  Marburg  Bible  Society,  instituted  1825     .     .  7,832 

31.  Frankfort  Bible  Society,  instituted  1816     .     .  73,505 

32.  Hesse-Darmstadt    Bible    Society,    instituted 

1817,  with  Auxiliaries 31,484 

33.  Duchy  of  Baden  Bible  Society,  instituted  1820, 

with  Auxiliaries 18,585 

34.  Wurtemberg  Bible  Society,  instituted  1812, 

with  AuxiHaries 552,627 

35.  Bavarian  Protestant  Bible  Institution  at  Nu- 

remberg, instituted  1821,  with  Auxiharies  155,989 

36.  Saxon  Bible  Society,  instituted   1814,  with 

Auxiharies 173,302 

37.  Anhalt-Bernberg    Bible     Society,    instituted 

1821 4,786 

38.  Anhalt-Dessau  Bible  Society 3,310 

39.  Weimar  Bible  Society,  instituted  1821     .     .  3,773 

40.  Eisenach  Bible  Society,  instituted  1818     .     .  4,938 

41.  Brunswick  Bible  Society,  instituted  1815  .     .  700 

42.  Prussian  Bible   Society   at  Berlin,  instituted 

1805,  with  Auxiliaries 1,566,660 

Issued  to  the  Prussian  troops,  since  1830     .  327,000 

SWITZERLAND    AND    ITALY. 

43.  Basle  Bible  Society,  instituted  1804     .     .     .  418,855 

44.  Schaffhausen  Bible  Society,  instituted  1813  .  13,179 


AND    REGISTER. 


245 


45.  Zurich  Bible  Society,  instituted   1812,  with 

Auxiliary  at  Winterthur 

46.  St.  Gall  Bible  Society,  instituted  1813     . 

47.  Aargovian  Bible  Society,  instituted  1815  . 

48.  Berne  Bible  Society 

49.  Neufcbatel  Bible  Society,  instituted  1816 

50.  Lausanne  Bible  Society,  instituted  1814    . 

51.  Geneva  Bible  Society,  instituted  1814  .     . 

52.  Glarus  Bible  Society,  instituted  1819   .     . 

53.  Coire  or  Chur  Bible  Society,  instituted  1813 

54.  Waldenses  Bible  Society  at  La  Tour,  insti 

tuted  1816 


Bibles  and  Testst 

15,163 
37,436 
19,454 
44,646 

6,430 
32,000 
36,651 

5,000 
12,267 

4,238 


GREECE    AND    TURKEY. 

55.  Ionian  Bible  Society,  instituted  1819  at  Corfu, 

with  three  AuxiHaries 

RUSSIA. 

56.  Russian  Bible  Society,  Petersburg,   previous 

to  its  suspension  by  an  imperial  Ukase,  in 
1826,  had  289  Aj^ixiliaries,  and  had  printed 
the  Scriptures  in  various  languages  ;  the 
circulation  of  which  is  still  allowed  .  .  . 
67.  Russian  Protestant  Bible  Society  at  St. 
Petersburg,  instituted  1826,  with  numerous 
Auxiliaries 

INDIA. 

58.  Calcutta  Bible  Society,  instituted  1811,  with 

various    Branches 

Serampore  Missionaries 

69.  North  India  Bible  Society,  at  Agra,  insti- 
tuted  1845 

60.  Madras  Bible  Society,  instituted  1820  .     .     . 


7,377 


861,105 


250,325 


602,266 
200,000 

33,900 
574,154 


246  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

Bibles  and  Tests, 

Gl.  Bombay  Bible  Society,  instituted  1813     .     .  182,115 

62.  Colombo  Bible  Society,  instituted  1812,  with 

various  Branches  in  Ceylon 36,114 

63,  Jaffna  Bible  Society 94,091 


Total  of  copies  of  Scriptures     .     .     40,414,879 


CHAPTER  Y. 

SOCIETIES  FOR  THE   CIRCULATION  OF  RELIGIOUS  BOOKS. 
SECTION  I. 

EASTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

Great  Britain. — The  Rev.  Georg^e  Burder,  minister  of  a 
congregation  at  Coventry,  was,  under  the  providence  of  God, 
the  originator  of  the  London  Religious  Tract  Society.  Hav- 
ing felt  the  need  of  popular  tracts  of  a  more  decided  religious 
character  than  those  of  Mrs.  More,  which  were  then  in  circula- 
tion, he  prepared  six  essays  of  this  nature,  under  the  title  of 
"  Village  Tracts ;"  which  were  committed  for  publication  to  a 
bookseller  in  London.  The  failure  of  this  publisher  interfered 
with  the  circulation  of  the  tracts,  but  led  its  author  and  his 
friends  to  consider  the  importance  of  forming  a  society,  which 
should  attend  to  the  preparation  and  publication,  at  a  cheap 
rate,  of  such  productions  as  those  which  had  been  attempted. 
Accordingly,  on  the  10th  of  May,  1799,  the  Religious  Tract 
Society  was  organized,  at  a  meeting  of  gentlemen  held  at  the 
St.  Paul  coffee-house,  London.  The  committee  elected  on  that 
occasion  embraced  among  others  the  celebrated  Rowland  Hill, 
together  with  Alexander  Waugb,  Matthew  Wilks  and  Joseph 
Hughes. 

The  early  friends  of  the  institution  took  a  decided  position  in 
reference  to  its  catholicity.  Nothing  was  to  be  published  that 
in  any  way  reflected  upon  a  particular  denomination  of  evan- 
gelical Christians.     The  great   object   which   it  contemplated 


248  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

from  the  outset,  was  "  to  buld  forth  to  view  those  grand  doc- 
trinal and  practical  truths  whicli  have  in  every  age  been  mighty 
through  God  in  converting,  sanctifying  and  comforting  souls/'* 
This  catholic  spirit  has  been  maintained  in  all  the  subsequent 
proceedings  of  the  Society.  Tlie  union  which  has  |>revailed  in 
its  councils  has  been  a  pk-asing  evidence  of  the  Divine  blessing 
upon  the  labors  of  its  conductors. 

The  Rehgious  Tract  Society  has  numbered  among  its  friends 
and  officers  many  of  the  most  eminent  Christians  of  our  times. 
The  excellent  Legh  Kichmond  became,  in  1813,  one  of  its 
Secretaries.  Several  of  his  invaluable  tracts  were  written  for 
publication  by  the  Society  ;  and  the  others  were  reprinted  by  it. 

So  intimately  has  the  Tract  cause  been  connected  with  that 
of  the  Bible,  that  nearly  all  of  the  more  prominent  advocates  of 
the  latter  were  members  of  this  institution.  Hughes,  Steinkopff, 
Bogue,  Henderson,  Pinkerton,  Bickersteth,  were  earnest  friends 
to  both  of  these  enterprises. 

It  is  not  practicable,  and  would  be  unnecessary,  to  enter 
into  much  detail  respecting  the  internal  history  of  the  Religious 
Tract  Society.  Its  course  has  been  quiet  and  unobtrusive,  but 
steady  and  prosperous.  The  opposition  it  has  encountered  from 
time  to  time,  has  been  upon  grounds  of  too  little  importance  to 
require  specification  here.  The  progress  of  the  cause,  and  its 
fruits  thus  far,  can  be  better  displayed  by  a  brief  statistical 
statement,  than  in  any  other  way. 

At  the  semi-centennial  celebration  or  Jubilee  of  the  Society, 
which  occurred  in  1849,  upon  the  completion  of  its  fiftieth  year, 
the  results  of  the  enterprise  were  given  as  follows  :f 

The  total  amount  of  receipts  for  the  first  fifty  years  of  the 
Society's  existence,  was  one  million  two  hundred  and  two  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  forty-two  pounds  sterling  ($5,860,000). 

*  Dr.  Bogue  ;  in  his  first  Sermons  for  the  Society. 

f  Jubilee  Memorial  of  the  lloligious  Tract  Society ;  London,  1850. 


AND    REGISTER.  249 

The  total  amount  of  issues  of  publications,  within  the  same 
term  of  years,  was  five  hundred  millions.  These  publications  are 
in  one  hundred  and  ten  different  languages  and  dialects ;  and 
have  been  distributed  in  all  parts  of  Europe,  in  Persia,  India, 
Ceylon,  China,  Polynesia,  Africa,  North  and  South  America,  &c. 
The  total  amount  of  grants  to  these  various  countries  is  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-five  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy-two 
pounds  sterling. 

The  number  of  the  separate  publications  of  the  Society,  is  five 
thousand  one  hundred  and  forty-eight.  At  its  anniversary  in 
1848,  the  Report  strongly  urged  generous  offerings  to  the 
institution  on  the  completion  of  its  fiftieth  year,  to  be  devoted 
to  the  issue  of  publications  calculated,  by  the  divine  blessing,  to 
counteract  the  unchristian  and  demoralizing  tendency  of  a  vast 
portion  of  the  cheap  literature  of  the  day,  and  to  the  promotion 
of  an  enlarged  distribution  of  the  Society's  works  in  Ireland,  and 
in  the  countries  opening  to  its  labors  on  the  continent  of 
Europe.  The  result  of  this  special  appeal  has  been  the  liberal 
contribution  of  eight  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-nine  pounds 
sterling. 

From  the  fifty-first  annual  Report  of  the  Religious  Tract 
Society,  we  learn  that  its  receipts  for  the  last  year — 1849-50 — 
amounted  to  sixty-one  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty -seven 
pounds  sterHng  (|299,2Y0).  The  issues  of  its  publications 
during  the  year  were  nineteen  millions  two  hundred  and  forty- 
five  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty-one ;  making  the  total 
circulation  of  the  Society's  tracts  and  books,  in  one  hundred  and 
ten  languages,  including  the  issues  of  aflSliated  societies  in  foreign 
lands,  about  five  hundred  and  twenty-four  millions. 

With  regard  to  the  mode  of  this  Society's  operations,  in  the 
distribution  of  its  publications,  the  following  statement  is  made 
in  its  last  report.  "In  applying  the  funds  contributed  to  the 
Society,  care  is  taken  to  secure  as  wide  and  as  promising  a  field 
of  operation  as  can  be  attained.     By  the  aid  of  missionaries 

11* 


260  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

abroad,  and  disinterested  friends  at  home,  the  gratuitous  circula- 
tion is  carried  forward  without  any  charge  or  expense  for  agents. 
By  a  carefully  arranged  system,  in  the  concerns  of  the  Deposi- 
tory, the  sale  of  the  publications  is  made  to  cover  all  the  expenses 
of  producing  them,  and  of  the  necessary  estabhshment  of  the 
Society.  Thus  the  whole  amount  of  subscriptions,  donations, 
and  contributions  is  applied  to  the  gratuitous  circulation  of  its 
publications,  without  any  deduction  or  charge  whatever ;  and 
the  flivor  with  which  the  works  have  been  received  by  the 
Christian  public,  has  enabled  the  Committee,  of  late  years,  to 
distribute  to  a  larger  extent  than  the  sums  received  ;  so  that  the 
Society  has  rendered  back  to  the  public  an  amount  exceeding  in 
value  what  has  been  thus  contributed.  In  this  course,  the 
Committee  trust  the  Society  will  be  enabled  to  proceed,  without 
lisking  its  important  and  fundamental  object,  of  presenting  a 
hu-ge  and  varied  list  of  works,  at  such  prices  as  the  religious 
public  have  a  right  to  expect."* 

As  early  as  the  year  1806,  the  Religious  Tract  Society,  hav-- 
ing  issued  three  or  four  millions  of  tracts,  including  a  cheap 
narrative  series  with  cuts,  adapted  to  counteract  the  influence 
which  a  flood  of  infidel  and  other  vile  publications  was  exerting 
upon  the  lower  classes,  gave  attention  to  the  formation  of  Tract 
Societies  in  foreign  countries.  In  the  preceding  year,  the  Rev. 
Drs.  Patterson  and  Henderson,  forbidden  by  the  East  India 
Company  to  go  to  India,  went  to  Denmark  to  seek  liberty  to 
station  themselves  at  Serampore.  This  being  denied,  they 
obtained  the  translation  of  "  The  Great  Question  Answered"  into 
Danish ;  which  led  to  the  extensive  Tract  and  Bible  operations 
in  the  north  of  Europe,  under  the  labors  chiefly  of  the  Rev.  Drs. 
Pinkerton  and  Steinkopfflf 

"There  is  one  view  of  the  Society's  foreign  labors,"  says  tha 

*  Fifty -first  annual  Report  of  the  Religious  Tract  Society  :  1850. 
f  Quarter-Century  Reminiscences  ;  American  Tract  Society, 


AND    REGISTER.  251 

author  of  the  Jubilee  Memorial,  ah-eady  quoted,  "which  it 
would  be  improjDer  here  to  overlook  ;  namely,  the  manner  ia 
which  they  have  extended  the  influence  of  Christian  writers 
through  the  world.  Authors  who  only  contemplated  the  im- 
provement of  their  own  countrymen  when  they  composed  their 
works,  have  had  their  thoughts  conveyed  into  languages,  the 
very  names  of  which  were  unknown  in  their  days.  Little  did 
John  Bunyan  foresee  that  in  future  times  missionaries  would  go 
forth  to  the  heathen,  and  by  twenty-eight  different  translations 
of  his  enchanting  volume  interest  the  people  of  many  nations, 
the  civilized  and  the  rude,  so  that  the  learned  and  polished 
inhabitant  of  France  and  Greece,  the  tawny  wanderer  of  Arabia, 
the  persecuted  believer  in  Madagascar,  the  sunburnt  Kaffir,  and 
the  degraded  Hottentot,  should  read  with  avidity  the  book 
which  is  the  delight  of  the  lowly  cottagers  of  our  own  land. 

"  The  pious  writer  of  the  touching  narrative,  '  Poor  Joseph,' 
in  all  probability  only  contemplated  its  usefulness  within  the  limits 
of  his  own  country :  how  surprised  he  would  have  been  if  one 
endowed  with  prophetic  vision  had  told  him  that  his  '  half- 
witted man'  would  speak  in  seventeen  languages,  and  be  the 
means  of  teaching  the  knowledge  of  Christ  to  the  Chinese  in 
the  east,  the  Greek  in  the  west,  the  Esquimaux  in  the  north, 
and  the  African  in  the  south.  Neither  did  the  amiable  and  de- 
voted Legh  Richmond,  when  employing  his  persuasive  advocacy 
and  active  labors  for  the  Society,  imagine  that  he  was  sustaining 
an  agency  which  would  convey  his  '  short  and  simple  Annals  of 
the  Poor,'  through  twenty-one  languages,  to  the  Russian,  the 
Armenian,  the  Arab,  the  Icelander,  and  the  Turk.  Nor  did  the 
esteemed  writer  of  the  'Anxious  Inquirer  Directed  and  En- 
couraged' suppose,  when  he  sent  out  that  useful  production,  that 
his  affectionate  appeals  would  find  an  utterance  in  five  continen- 
tal tongues,  in  one  of  the  most  difficult  dialects  of  India,  and  in 
the  words  of  the  islanders  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  In  a  similar 
manner,  also,  other  Christian  authors,  as  Baxter,  Doddridge, 


252  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Pike,  Stokes,  Keith,  and  Barth,  have  had  their  influence  ex- 
tended and  perpetuated  to  an  extent  they  could  never  have  an- 
ticipated." 


SECTION  II. 

From  England  the  beneficent  influence  of  a  rehgious  literature 
has  extended  over  nearly  all  parts  of  the  continent ;  and  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Religious  Tract  Society  has  given  rise,  in  several 
of  the  countries  where  Protestant  institutions  exist,  to  similar 
enterprises  of  benevolence.  Some  of  these  we  pi-oceed  to  men- 
tion, giving,  however,  only  a  brief  statement  of  their  statistics. 

France. — The  Paris  Religious  Tract  Society  has  circulated 
during  the  last  year  about  six  hundred  and  five  thousand  tracts, 
besides  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  co})ies  of  the  "  Alma- 
nac of  good  Counsels."  The  receipts  have  amounted  to  45,842 
francs,  and  the  expenses  to  42,593  francs. 

The  Toulouse  Religious  Book  Society  has  issued  during  the 
past  two  years,  eighty-nine  thousand  five  hundred  books.  In 
the  same  period,  about  sixty-four  new  libraries  have  been  either 
formed  or  assisted.  This  aid  has  not  been  confined  to  France, 
but  has  been  extended  to  other  lands,  including  Africa,  Greece, 
Canada,  and  Russia.  During  the  past  year  various  new  works 
have  been  issued. 

Holland. — Rotterdam  Tract  Society.  The  colporteurs  meet 
with  much  acceptance  among  the  people,  and  are  greatly  en- 
couraged by  finding  that  sinners  have  been  led  to  God  through 
the  tracts  distributed.  The  Society  has  translated  twenty-eight 
of  the  handbills  of  the  Parent  Society,  and  in  a  few  months  up- 
wards of  22,000  were  sold.  The  total  issues  in  the  year  were 
127,800  tracts  and  children's  books. 

Germany. — The  Lower  Saxony  Tract  Societ}^,  at  Hamburg, 
has  printed  638,000  tracts :  out  of  which  524,853  have  been 


AND    REGISTER.  f^3 

distiibuted.  The  total  circulation  in  twenty-nine  years  has  been 
V,054,792.  Several  new  tracts  were  printed  in  the  year,  and 
among  them  one  addressed  to  soldiers  on  Mr.  Gossner's  recom- 
mendation. 

In  addition  to  the  extensive  labors  of  the  Lower  Saxony  Com- 
mittee, there  have  been  large  appropriations  of  tracts  to  nu- 
merous emigrants ;  and  pious  colporteurs  have  conveyed  them 
to  thousands  who  are  living  in  awful  ignorance  of  the  way  of 
salvation.  The  receipts  of  the  society  for  the  year  have  been 
£563,  which  include  the  grants  received  from  the  Religious 
Tract  Society. 

The  Hamburg  Tract  Society.  The  issues  in  the  year  "  have 
reached  500,000  copies  of  different  tracts,  and  these  have  led  to 
the  circulation  of  upwards  of  22,000  copies  of  the  Scriptures, 
the  employment  of  forty  missionaries  and  colporteurs,  and  the 
issue  of  several  thousand  copies  of  larger  publications."  In 
Hamburg,  nearly  forty  brethren  are  regularly  engaged  as  loan- 
tract  distributors,  and  others  visit  neighboring  districts. 

The  Berlin  Tract  Society  is  now  employing  colporteurs  for 
the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  and  religious  tracts.  Mr.  Eisner, 
the  secretary,  writes: — "The  revolution  of  last  year  has  roused 
in  many  places  the  hearts  of  men  for  a  more  willing  reception 
of  the  word  of  God,  and  we  have  never  distributed  so  many 
copies  of  the  Scriptures  as  in  the  present  year ;  and  we  are  en- 
abled to  report  the  same  of  our  tracts."  The  Rev.  G.  W.  Leh- 
mann,  of  Berlin,  has  given  an  encouraging  report  of  the  circu- 
lation of  the  Society's  works  voted  to  him. 

Russia. — The  friends  at  St.  Petersburg  have  not  been  able 
to  circulate  their  tracts  and  books  to  the  same  extent  as  in  for- 
mer years.  Although  a  somewhat  smaller  number  of  publica- 
tions has  been  sent  from  the  depot,  yet  the  sales  have  consid- 
erably increased.  The  tracts  received  in  the  year  amount 
to  180,335,  in  Russ,  Finnish,  German,  English,  French,  Swe- 
dish, Dutch,  and  Danish,  about  147,800  having  been  printed 


254  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

at  St.  Petersburg.  These,  added  to  the  stock  on  hand  in 
18-49,  made  the  supplies  for  the  year  to  be  464,210.  The  is- 
sues have  been  ISGjVSO;  of  these,  100,493  were  sold  at  the 
depository.     The  total  issues,  in  various  languages,  amount  to 


SECTION  III. 

THE    UNITED    STATES. 

American  Tract  Society. — The  cause  of  Tract  distribution 
belongs,  in  this  country,  to  the  present  century  exclusively.  As 
early  as  1803,  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  promoting  Chris- 
tian Knowledge  entered  upon  the  systematic  publication  of 
tracts  and  books ;  and  in  succeeding  years  various  associations 
with  the  same  design,  sprung  up  in  Boston,  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, Baltimore,  and  other  chief  cities  of  the  Union.  All 
these  societies  had,  in  1824,  printed  about  ten  millions  copies 
of  religious  publications;  of  which  the  greater  portion  were 
issued  by  the  Tract  Society  at  Boston,  founded  in  1814. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1824,  a  correspondence  was  com- 
menced between  the  New  York  Religious  Tract  Society  and 
the  American  Tract  Society  at  Boston,  which  resulted  in  a  pub- 
lic meeting  held  in  New  York,  at  which  the  plan  of  an  American 
Tract  Society,  to  be  submitted  to  the  principal  Tract  Societies  in 
the  country,  was  adopted ;  and  subscriptions  were  raised  to  the 
amount  of  $25,000  for  erecting  a  Tract  House. 

May  10th,  1825,  a  convention  of  Delegates  from  Tract 
Societies  throughout  the  country  was  convened  in  New  York, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor  being  chairman,  at  which  a  constitution 
was  recommended  for  adoption ;  and  on  the  following  day  the 
Society  was  solemnly  organized,  with  public  religious  exercises, 
and  proceeded  to  lay  the  corner-stone  of  its  present  edifice. 
S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Esq.,  was  elected  President ;  Rev.  William  A. 


AND    REGISTER.  255 

Hallock,  (then  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Society  at  Boston,) 
corresponding  Secretary  ;  and  Moses  Allen,  Treasurer. 

The  last  words  which  the  lamented  Summerfield  spoke  in 
public,  were  uttered  in  an  enrapturing  address  near  the  close  of 
the  meeting  for  organizing  the  Society.  "  In  all  the  anniver- 
saries," said  he,  "which  I  have  ever  attended  in  Europe  or 
America,  I  have  never  been  so  conscious  of  the  presence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  Christian  love  pervading  every  heart.  Again 
and  again  I  could  not  refrain  from  weeping.  The  very  atmos- 
phere we  breathe  is  the  atmosphere  of  heaven ;  one  which 
angels  come  down  to  inhale,  and  in  which  God  himself  delights 
to  dwell." 

Previous  to  commencing  their  operations,  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee issued  an  address  to  the  Christian  public,  constituting 
Tract  No.  1,  in  which  they  specify  the  following  great  doctrines 
of  the  Gospel  as  those  in  which  they  all  harmonize,  and  which 
"  constitute  the  basis  of  their  union  :"  viz.  "  Man's  native  sinful- 
ness ;  the  purity  and  obligation  of  the  law  of  God ;  the  true  and 
proper  divinity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  the  necessity  and 
reality  of  his  Atonement  and  Sacrifice  ;  the  efficiency  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  work  of  renovation  ;  the  free  and  full  offers 
of  the  Gospel,  and  the  duty  of  men  to  accept  it ;  the  necessity 
of  personal  holiness ;  and  an  everlasting  state  of  rewards  and 
punishments  beyond  the  grave." 

The  American  Tract  Society  at  Boston,  at  its  annual  meeting 
during  the  same  month,  resolved  to  become  a  branch,  and 
transferred  its  stereotype  plates  to  the  new  institution  ;  to  which, 
like  all  the  other  Tract  institutions  in  the  country  founded  on 
kindred  principles,  it  has  since  given  its  cordial  and  efficient 
co-operation. 

The  Society's  operations  were  commenced  by  issuing  a  series 
of  Tracts  and  Children's  Tracts  ;  but  attention  had  already  been 
directed  both  to  the  issuing  of  volumes  like  those  of  Baxter  and 
Doddridge,  and  to  operations  in  foreign  lands.     The  question 


256  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

occurred  whetLer  its  title  should  not  be  the  American  Tract  and 
Book  Society,  or  the  American  and  Foreign  Tract  Society ;  but 
the  institution  formed  in  London  in  1*799,  had  simi)ly  the  title, 
"  Religious  Tract  Society  ;"  the  term  Tract,  Latin  iractum,  a 
Treatise,  or  thread  of  discourse  drawn  out,  was  equally  applica- 
ble to  a  larger  or  smaller  publication  ;  and  it  was  conceived  that 
the  term  American  might  imply  exertion  wherever  American 
benevolence  should  reach.  The  same  view's  governed  the  Board 
in  applying  for  the  act  of  incorporation. 

The  Society's  first  Report  recognizes  the  imperative  claims  of 
l^ogan  lands,  and  the  second  contains  the  princij^les  on  which 
foreign  pecuniary  grants  should  be  applied.  Those  principles 
were  drawn  up  and  presented  to  the  Society  by  one  of  its 
earliest  and  most  steady  friends,  the  lamented  Jeremiah  Evarts, 
Esq.,  then  Secretary  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions.  Appeals  from  some  foreign  stations  had 
already  been  received,  and  in  the  two  following  years  the 
Society's  first  foreign  pecuniary  grants  were  made  to  the  missions 
of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  in  Malta  and  Ceylon,  the  mission 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  Greece,  and  the  mission 
of  the  American  Baptist  Board  in  Burraah. 

In  its  third  year  it  entered  on  the  volume  circulation,  by 
stereotyping  Doddridge's  Rise  and  Progress,  which  was  ere  long 
followed  by  issuing  the  Saint's  Rest,  Call  to  the  Unconverted, 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  kindred  works. 

In  the  fourth  year,  attention  was  drawn  to  S7jstematic  Tract 
distribution.  A  deep  interest  had  been  awakened  in  behalf  of 
the  destitute  of  our  country,  especially  in  the  Western  States,  and 
a  meeting  of  gentlemen  convened  to  raise  funds,  when  one  of 
them,  previous  to  subscribing  $1,000,  said  he  wished  to  give  at 
least  two  Tracts  to  every  family  at  the  West ;  and  as  the  effort 
to  obtain  means  was  prosecuted  by  the  Secretary,  the  question 
occurred,  why  not  supply  the  accessible  population  of  the  East 
as  well  as  the  West.     The  work  was  soon  entered  upon  by  the 


AND    REGISTER.  257 

New  York  City  Tract  Society,  and  in  various  places  throughout 
the  country. 

After  two  years  the  thoughts  of  some  of  the  laborers,  and 
especially  the  late  Harlan  Page,  were  turned  to  the  necessity 
of  connecting  with  the  distribution  faithful  personal  efforts  for 
the  souls  of  men;  which  greatly  increased  the  interest  and 
efiiciency  of  these  endeavors,  and  were  prosecuted  to  some 
extent  in  most  of  our  principal  towns  and  villages,  and  in 
numerous  congregations.  The  Society's  energies  were  directed 
to  the  extension  of  these  means  of  grace  throughout  the  country 
generally.  The  branch  societies  in  New  York  city,  Philadelphia, 
and  other  important  cities,  towns  and  villages,  have  persevered ; 
the  former  having  now  more  than  1,000  visitors,  and  having  re- 
ported an  average  for  the  last  ten  years  of  about  three  hundred 
hopeful  conversions,  besides  abundant  incidental  good.* 

Of  late  years  the  American  Tract  Society  has  adopted  another 
instrumentahty  for  the  dissemination  of  its  excellent  publications ; 
one  which  had  long  been  in  use  abroad,  particularly  in  France, 
where  it  has  been  attended  with  great  success ;  we  allude  to 
the  system  of  colportage.  By  employing  men  of  ordinary 
education  but  well-attested  piety,  in  visiting  families  and  con- 
versing with  individuals  on  the  subject  of  religion,  and  introdu- 
cing to  their  attention  the  religious  volumes  or  tracts  which  they 
carry  with  them,  an  influence  has  been  exerted  throughout  the 
country,  but  especially  in  the  remote  and  sparsely-settled  parts 
of  it,  which  perhaps  could  be  obtained  by  no  other  agency.  In 
1841  the  Society's  annual  report  directed  attention  to  the 
religious  destitution  in  portions  of  the  South  and  West,  and 
urged  the  importance  of  extending  the  circulation  of  its  publica- 
tions in  those  quarters.  An  appeal  having  been  made,  for  well- 
qualified  laborers  to  go  to  such  destitute  places,  several  young 
men  responded  ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  year  eleven  colporteurs 

^  Instructions  for  Agents.     American  Tract  Society. 


258  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

were  commissioned.  This  number  has  rapidly  increased.  Dur- 
ing the  year  1849-50,  the  Society  employed  no  fewer  than  five 
hundred  and  eight  colporteurs,  for  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the 
year.  The  aggregate  number  of  families  visited  by  these  agents 
within  that  period,  was  428,300.  Of  these  44,800  were  Roman 
Catholic  families. 

The  American  Tract  Society  extends  its  influence  to  foreign 
countries,  through  the  missionary  and  other  associations  who  oc- 
cupy foreign  fields,  as  well  as  through  committees  at  various 
missionary  stations.  Its  appropriations  in  this  way,  for  the  year 
1849-50,  amounted  to  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  The  Society, 
and  the  institutions  which  it  aids,  have  issued  publications  in  one 
hundred  and  ten  languages  and  dialects.  The  total  amount  of 
sums  appropriated  for  foreign  distribution,  since  the  formation 
of  the  Society,  is  ^239,626. 

The  whole  number  of  the  Society's  pubhcations  has  been 
1,528  ;  of  which  284  are  volumes.  The  whole  number  of 
pages  printed  and  circulated,  from  the  beginning,  has  been 
2,483,793,562.  The  receipts  of  the  Society,  for  the  year  1849- 
50,  v>'ere  $308,266  ;  the  whole  receipts  from  the  beginning 
amount  to  $2,771,038. 


CHAPTBK  YL 

SOCIETIES  FOR  HOME   EVAKGELIZATION". 
SECTION  I. 

WESTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

The  necessity  for  Home  Missions  is,  of  course,  most  obvious 
and  urgent  in  a  newly  settled  country  ;  and  hence,  in  this  de- 
partment of  our  statement,  we  shall  give  prominence  to  those 
movements  which  have  taken  place  in  the  United  States,  instead 
of  comm.encing  with  the  European  institutions,  as  we  have  done 
in  previous  chapters. 

American  Home  Missionary/  Society. — Various  Domestic  Mis- 
sionary Societies  had  sprung  up  in  the  United  States  before  the 
formation  of  a  national  association  ;  among  which  was  the  United 
Domestic  Missionary  Society,  out  of  which  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society  was  formed,  in  the  year  1826.  During  its 
first  year,  it  supported  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  missionaries; 
its  receipts  being  about  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The  president 
of  the  Society  at  its  institution  was  the  Hon.  Stephen  Van  Rens- 
selaer ;  among  its  vice-presidents  and  directors  were  many  of 
the  most  distinguished  clergymen  of  the  day. 

It  was  not  designed  that  the  American  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety should  supersede  the  local  associations  already  existing, 
but  draw  them  into  affiliation  with  it,  as  it  did  in  a  short  time. 
There  are  at  present  connected  with  it  fourteen  important  and 
flourishing  state  auxiliary  societies  and  agencies,  by  which  funds 


260  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

are  collected  and  missionaries  supported,  in  connection  with  the 
parent  society. 

The  progress  of  this  institution,  during  the  twenty-four  years, 
is  well  illustrated  by  the  following  facts : 

"Beginning  with  169  missionaries,  in  ten  years  it  increased 
the  number  to  755 ;  and  in  twenty-four  years  to  1,032.  It 
sought  to  "  lead  out  the  enterprise  of  the  churches  in  pursuit 
of  our  emigrant  population  ;  and  has  kept  pace,  in  a  good  de- 
gree, with  the  crowds  of  pioneers  who  have  pressed  on,  year  by 
year,  further  towards  the  setting  sun.  For  some  twenty  years, 
the  progress  of  the  hne  of  settlements  was  at  the  average  of 
seventeen  hundred  miles  from  north  to  south,  and  two  thousand 
from  east  to  west."* 

In  a  field  so  extensive,  and  so  promising,  we  are  naturally  led 
to  inquire,  what  efforts  have  been  and  are  now  put  forth  for  its 
entire  evangelization,  how  many  laborers  are  now  engaged  in 
this  work,  and  what  have  been  the  results  of  their  exertions. 
The  number  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  as  well  those  who  have 
been  engaged  in  superintending  the  missionary  work,  and  those 
who  are  connected  with  the  auxiliary  boards  and  agencies,  as 
those  who  are  personally  occupied  in  discharging  the  peculiar 
duties  of  home  missionaries,  amount,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
to  upwards  of  a  thousand.  So  large  a  body  of  ministers,  whose 
support  is  either  wholly  or  in  part  furnished  by  this  Society, 
must  exert  a  powerful  influence  in  their  respective  fields  of  la- 
bor. Of  these  brethren,  677  have  been  during  the  past  year 
the  pastors  or  stated  supplies  of  single  congregations  ;  229  have 
ministered  to  two  or  three  congregations  each  ;  and  126  have 
extended  their  labors  over  still  wider  fields — the  destitute  local- 
ities of  a  county,  or  of  several  contiguous  counties,  or  those 
within  the  limits  of  an  ecclesiastical  body.  In  this  way  not  less 
than  1,575  congregations  and  missionary  districts  have  been 

*  Home  Missionary,  Feb.,  1851. 


AND    REGISTER.  261 

supplied  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  at  stated  intervals  ;  and 
many  others  have,  at  the  same  time,  enjoyed  the  occasional 
preaching  of  the  word  of  life. 

The  labors  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society  have  not  been 
restricted  to  the  mass  of  our  population  who  speak  the  EngHsh 
language,  or  to  the  white  inhabitants  only.  Five  missionaries 
have  been  commissioned  as  pastors  or  stated  supplies  of  churches 
of  colored  people ;  ten  have  preached  to  Welsh,  and  twenty-eight 
to  German  congregations ;  one  to  a  congregation  of  Norwegians ; 
and  one  to  a  congregation  of  Swedes. 

Nor  have  the  missionaries  neglected  the  establishment  of 
Sabbath-schools,  and  the  imparting  of  religious  instruction  to 
the  rising  generation,  who  are  soon  to  hold  in  their  own  hands 
the  destiny  of  their  country.  At  least  75,000  children  and 
youth  have  been  connected  with  the  Sabbath-schools,  under  the 
care  of  the  missionaries  of  this  Society,  during  the  last  year. 
The  missionaries  have  likewise  paid  much  attention  to  the  prog- 
ress of  temperance  in  those  communities  among  which  they 
have  resided;  and  the  number  of  those  who  have  pledged 
themselves  to  temperance  may  be  estimated  at  93,000.  They 
have  been  careful,  however,  to  base  all  their  eflforts  on  moral 
principle,  witnessing  as  they  frequently  do  the  inefficacy,  if  not 
the  injurious  tendency,  of  all  other  motives.  Their  efforts  have 
not  been  fruitless.  In  Wisconsin,  where  the  Society  has  for 
years  been  laboring  with  much  encouragement,  a  law  has  been 
enacted  by  the  legislature,  making  the  vender  of  intoxicating 
drink  responsible  for  all  the  injury  which  his  iniquitous  traffic 
inflicts  upon  the  persons,  the  property,  and  the  peace  of  the 
community.  But  though  this  law  has  met  with  much  opposi- 
tion, it  has  been  made  still  more  effective  by  an  amendment  re- 
cently passed,  which  renders  it  obligatory  on  the  town  supervi- 
sors to  prosecute  all  cases  of  its  violation.  Its  happy  effects  have 
already  become  visible  in  the  increase  of  sobriety  and  good 
order  throughout  the  state. 


262  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

The  contributions  of  many  of  the  churches,  assisted  by  the 
Society,  to  benevolent  objects,  have  not  been  inconsiderable  ;  in 
512  congregations,  they  amounted  to  $21,756,  or  more  than 
one  third  of  the  amount  expended  during  the  paf.t  year  to  aid 
these  congregations  in  sustaining  the  ministry. 

Yet  the  number  of  hopeful  conversions  and  avZi'dons  to  the 
Church,  as  it  is  so  closely  connected  with  the  mV/jionary  work, 
is  also  the  most  interesting  sign  of  the  effectiveno^^s  of  the  ope- 
ration of  this  Society.  During  the  year  1849-50,  the  additions 
to  the  churches,  as  far  as  they  were  ascertaT47od,  amounted  to 
6,682;  of  whom  ^,815  were  admitted  upoD  profession  of  their 
faith,  and  2,867  upon  letters  of  recomm^'adation  from  other 
churches.  This  is  a  larger  number  than  L'ls  been  reported  in 
any  one  year  since  1844,  and  has  been  e:  i-eeded  only  in  three 
years  since  the  formation  of  the  Society,  The  missionary  sta- 
tions seem  to  have  been  remarkably  bk  3ed  by  the  influences 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  and  revivals  are  reported  to  have  occurred, 
by  no  less  than  seventy  missionaries.  L  ;3S  than  one  third  of  the 
missionaries  report  3,108  cases  of  hopefil  conversion. 

The  external  prospects  of  the  churcl  es  are  likewise  cheering. 
Numerous  church  edifices  are  every  year  raised,  and  not  less 
than  forty  congregations,  which  have  hitherto  depended,  in  part 
at  least,  upon  the  Society  for  the  support  of  their  pastors,  have 
become  independent,  and  are  now  enabled  to  sustain  them  by 
their  own  contributions. 

The  receipts  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society  for  the  year 
1849-50,  were  $157,160  78  cts. ;  and  for  the  twenty-four  years 
which  have  elapsed  since  its  formation,  $2,054,417  91  cts. 
I 

SECTION  II. 

We  proceed  to  mention  some  of  the  operations  of  denomina- 
tional societies  and  boards  in  our  own  country,  in  the  field  of 
domestic  missions. 


AND    REGISTER.  263 

Presbyterian  Board  of  Domestic  Missions. — The  Presbyte- 
rian church  (old-school  organization)  sustains,  through  its  Board 
of  Domestic  Missions,  an  important  part  in  this  great  enterprise. 
During  the  last  year,  the  number  of  ministers  supported  in 
whole  or  in  part  by  this  body  was  five  hundred  and  seventy ; 
and  the  number  of  feeble  congregations  aided,  and  missionary 
stations  supplied,  so  far  as  reported,  was  1461.  These  opera- 
tions extend  over  twenty-five  States  of  the  Union.  The  addi- 
tions to  the  church  within  the  year  amount  to  about  five  thou- 
sand ;  the  sum  contributed  by  the  mission  churches  to  foreign 
and  domestic  missions,  was  about  ten  thousand  dollars.  The 
receipts  of  this  Board  for  the  year  were  $79,049. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Board  of  Domestic  Missions. — The  num- 
ber of  laborers  at  present  supported  or  assisted  by  the  Domestic 
Board  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  is  ninety-six;  of 
whom  three  are  bishops,  ninety  presbyters  and  deacons,  and 
three  laymen.  About  the  same  number  of  stations  are  occupied 
by  these  missionaries  ;  extending  through  twenty  States  and 
Territories.     The  receipts  for  the  last  year  were  |30,657. 

Domestic  Missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. — 
Under  the  separation  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  por- 
tions of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the  Home  Missionary 
work,  as  well  as  the  Foreign,  has  been  divided.  The  Mission- 
ary Society  of  the  Church,  North,  sustains,  in  the  sphere  of  do- 
mestic operations,  missions  among  the  German  and  Swedish  im- 
migrants, the  Indian  tribes,  and  our  own  population.  Among 
the  Germans,  it  supports  one  hundred  and  eight  missionaries, 
at  ninety  stations,  principally  in  the  West,  comprising  one  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  churches,  with  7128  members.  The  Indian 
Mission,  likewise  located  in  the  West,  consists  of  twelve  stations, 
occupied  by  seventeen  missionaries,  and  containing  1075  church 
members.  Among  the  Swedes,  a  missionary  is  supported  at 
New  York,  and  another  in  Illinois.  In  the  destitute  portions 
of  the  various  districts  of  the  church,  this  Society  employs  337 


264  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

missionaries,  at  320  stations,  containing  30,438  cliurcli-mem- 
bers.  Total  number  of  missionaries,  4G4  ;  and  of  church-mem- 
bers, 38,882.  Appropriations  for  the  past  year  (to  Home  Mis- 
sions), 858,070. 

The  Missionary  Society  of  the  Church,  South,  restricts  its 
operations  to  the  home  field  almost  exclusively,  having  but  two 
missionaries  abroad.  Its  missions  are  distributed  among  the 
destitute  fields  at  home,  the  colored  population,  the  Germans, 
and  the  Indians.  In  the  first  of  these  departments  it  supports 
117  missionaries,  at  124  stations,  in  which  are  included  20,921 
church-members.  Among  the  colored  population  are  employed 
104  missionaries,  at  116  stations,  containing  34,459  members. 
Among  the  Germans  eight  missionaries  are  at  work,  chiefly  in 
Louisiana,  and  among  the  Indian  tribes  there  are  thirty-nine 
missionaries.  Total  number  of  laborers,  273  ;  and  of  church- 
members,  59,707.     Receipts  for  the  last  year,  |60,87l. 

BajAist  Home  Mission  Societij. — This  Society  employs,  in 
fifteen  States  and  territories,  and  in  Canada,  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  laborers.  Of  these,  twenty-two  are  stationed  in  Illinois, 
eia'hteen  in  Michigan,  and  sixteen  in  Canada.  Since  the  for- 
mation  of  the  Society,  1432  ministers  have  received  its  commis- 
sion.    Its  receipts  for  the  last  year  were  $30,369. 

The  Southern  Baptist  denomination  sustains,  in  connection 
with  its  Convention,  a  Board  of  Domestic  Missions,  which 
employed,  during  the  last  year,  fifty  missionaries.  Many  of  these 
are  laboring  among  the  colored  population.  Receipts  for  the 
year,  $10,692. 

Evangelical  Lutheran  Home  Missiona.ry  Society. — Under 
the  direction  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church  in  the  United  States,  this  Society  was  organized  in  1845, 
and  now  supports  twenty-two  missionaries  in  the  States  of  Mary- 
land, Illinois,  Indiana,  Pennsylvania,  Kentucky,  and  Ohio.  The 
receipts  for  the  three  years  (in  the  interim  of  the  Synod's  con- 
vention), ending  April,  1850,  amounted  to  $2,081. 


AND    REGISTER.  265 

Free- Will  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society. — Ten  churches 
have  received  aid  from  this  small,  but  growing  association,  dur- 
ing the  last  year.     The  amount  of  its  income  was  |5,525. 

The  Seventh-Day  Baptists,  and  some  other  denominations  of 
Christians  in  this  country,  have  their  own  organizations  for  the 
extension  of  religion  in  their  peculiar  spheres ;  but  it  is  needless 
to  go  into  further  detail. 


SECTION  III. 

EASTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

England  and  Ireland. — There  are  in  Great  Britain  several 
religious  associations  in  operation,  whose  design  is  the  evangel- 
izing of  the  native  population,  whether  in  Great  Britain  or  in 
the  colonies.  Three  of  these  societies  are  comprehended  under 
the  title  of  "  The  British  Missions ;"  namely,  the  Home,  Colonial, 
and  Irish  Evangelical  Societies. 

The  Home  Missionary  Society,  which  was  founded  in  1819, 
employs,  at  present,  in  whole,  or  in  part,  one  hundred  and  six- 
teen missionaries  or  agents,  and  nearly  one  hundred  lay-preach- 
ers, who  have,  as  their  weekly  coadjutors,  1652  Sunday-school 
teachers,  and  whose  ministrations  are  attended  by  upwards  of 
forty-one  thousand  hearers,  and  about  twelve  thousand  five  hun- 
dred Sunday-school  scholars.  The  chapels,  or  preaching-rooms 
of  the  Society's  laborers,  number  nearly  four  hundred  and  fifty, 
and  are  scattered  among  four  hundred  and  forty  towns,  villages, 
and  hamlets.  The  entire  receipts  of  the  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety for  the  year  1849-50,  amounted  to  £6,159,  or  $29,810. 
Its  expenditures  exceeded  this  sum  by  £200. 

The  Irish  Evangelical  Society,  founded  in  1814,  employs  in 
Ireland  twenty-four  pastors  and  missionaries,  and  twenty-six 
Scripture  readers  and  teachers.  Its  receipts  last  year  were 
12 


266  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

£2,791,  or  $13,508 ;  but  tliis  sum  being  inadequate  to  meet 
the  engagements  of  the  Society,  it  is  obhged  to  diminish  the  ex- 
tent of  its  operations. 

The  Colonial  Society  was  founded  in  1836.  The  sphere  of 
its  labors  is  in  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  the  Canadas,  New 
South  Wales,  Australia,  and  Van  Dieman's  Land.  For  the 
last  year,  the  number  of  its  agents  in  these  colonies  was  thirty- 
seven,  the  number  of  its  stations  being  the  same.  Its  receipts 
were  £2,765,  or  $13,382. 

Kindred  to  these  bodies  is  the  Christian  Instruction  Society, 
instituted  in  1835,  whose  operations  for  the  year  1849-50  are 
thus  specified  in  its  last  annual  report.  "  One  hundred  and  five 
churches  are  united  as  associations  with  the  parent  society,  and 
two  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty  Christian  men  and  women 
are  visiting  fifty-two  thousand  one  hundred  and  five  families, 
for  the  purpose  of  Christian  instruction  by  book  or  word.  By 
the  personal  eflforts  of  the  visitors,  two  thousand  and  sixty-three 
children  have  been  reclaimed  from  the  streets,  and  are  found  in 
Sabbath-schools,  1655  adults  have  felt  the  force  of  Christian 
persuasion,  so  as  to  go  from  the  once  Sabbath-neglecting  homes 
to  the  house  of  prayer,  2782  of  the  distressed,  among  whom 
are  many  of  '  Christ's  brethren,'  have  had  their  temporal  neces 
sities  relieved,  and  442  copies  of  the  Scriptures  have  been  dis- 
tributed. Religious  services  are  conducted  on  Sabbath  and 
week  evenings  in  ninety  rooms  and  cottages  in  the  various  dis- 
tricts of  the  associations.  In  the  Tabernacle  district  alone,  300 
services  have  been  held  at  such  meetings.  The  tents  have  been 
much  in  requisition  during  the  year,  and  much  good  has  been 
the  result  of  the  services  held  in  them;  150  sermons  and  ad- 
dresses have  been  delivered  during  the  season  in  them.  In  the 
open  air,  too,  attempts  have  been  made  to  call  on  men  to  re- 
pent and  believe  the  Gospel,  One  of  the  most  interesting  and 
successful  undertakings  has  been  the  delivering  of  lectures  to 
the  working  classes,  in  various  halls  and  schools,  in  different 


AND    REGISTER.  267 

parts  of  the  metropolis.  Fifty-two  thousand  religious  books 
have  been  circulated  among  as  many  families  at  the  stations ; 
thirty  thousand  tracts  were  distributed  during  the  visitation  of 
the  cholera."     Receipts  for  the  la^t  year  £V84,  or  $3,Y95. 

The  London  City  Mission,  vt'itli  the  same  general  object,  was 
established  in  1835.  Its  statistics  for  the  last  year  are  given  as 
follows  :  Number  of  Missionaries  employed,  242  ;  number  of 
visits  made,  1,018,436;  of  tracts  distributed,  1,197,953;  of 
meetings  for  prayer  and  familiar  exposition,  19,931  ;  of  adults 
prevailed  on  to  attend  public  worship  regularly,  2,803  :  of  chil- 
dren sent  to  school,  5,168  ;  of  individuals  admitted  through  the 
instrumentality  of  the  missionaries,  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  554. 
The  receipts  of  this  association  were  £20,320,  or  $98,350. 

The  £aptist  Home  Mission  sustains,  in  whole  or  part,  one 
hundred  and  seven  missionaries  ;  it  numbers  three  hundred 
stations;  in  connection  with  which  there  are  23,000  hearers, 
113  Sabbath-schools,  and  7,600  scholars.  During  the  year, 
639  persons  were  baptized  and  added  to  the  mission  churches. 
The  receipts  were  £4,521,  or  $21,890. 

The  /r^6•7i  Church  Missioyi  employs,  in  Ireland,  fifteen  mis- 
sionaries, and  eighty-one  agents.  Within  the  year  1849-50, 
four  hundred  and  one  persons  were  converted  from  Romanism 
in  Galway  alone ;  and  in  DubHn,  Dungarvon,  and  other  dis- 
tricts, equally  gratifying  results  have  attended  the  labors  of 
the  Society's  agents  and  missionaries.  Its  receipts  were  £5,798 
or  $28,070. 

The  Church  Pastoral- Aid  Society,  founded  1836,  is  an  in- 
stitution for  the  support  and  assistance  of  clergymen  in  des- 
titute parishes,  and  the  establishment  of  churches  and  chapels 
in  such  localities.  Since  its  formation,  it  has  sustained  798  cler- 
gymen and  lay-assistants,  and  has  led  to  the  erection,  or  use  as 
places  of  worship,  of  298  churches,  chapels,  and  public  halls.  It 
now  aids  in  supporting  581  clergymen,  besides  91  lay-assistants. 
Receipts  for  the  last  year,  £35,660,  or  $172,635. 


268  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 


SECTION  IV. 

ScoiIa7id. — The  home  missions  of  the  Established  Church  of 
Scotland  are  chiefly  directed  towards  the  aiding  of  unendowed 
churches,  and  the  employing  of  missionaries.  Something,  how- 
ever, is  also  done  towards  church  extension,  and  the  assisting  of 
young  men  to  prepare  for  the  ministry.  Last  year  there  were 
under  the  charge  of  the  committee  124  places  of  worship  de- 
riving assistance  from  them  ;  of  which  64  were  churches,  and 
about  60  missionary  stations.  The  expenditures  were  £4,995, 
or  |23,1'76. 

The  Free  Church  of  Scotland  is  prosecuting,  with  th^  energy 
and  earnestness  that  characterize  its  foreign  operations,  the  im- 
portant work  of  evangelizing  those  parts  of  the  home  population 
which  are  destitute  of  adequate  means  of  grace.  Its  Home- 
Mission,  Church-Extension  and  Sustentation  schemes,  are  faith- 
fully advocated  and  supported.  Up  to  the  year  1848,  the  num- 
ber of  new  churches  built,  since  the  disruption,  under  the 
Church-Extension  scheme,  was  seven  hundred  and  one  ;  and  the 
receipts  for  that  purpose  during  the  year,  amounted  to  £1,125. 

The  following  are  the  statistics  of  these  departments  of  the 
Free  Church  domestic  missions  at  the  present  date  :  The  expen- 
diture of  the  Home  Mission  and  Church-Extension  scheme  for 
the  year  1850-51,  is  estimated  at  £2,500,  or  |12,000.  The 
receipts  of  the  Sustentation  fund  for  the  seven  months  ending 
December,  1850,  amounted  to  £49,925  195,;  and  may  be  es- 
timated for  the  year,  at  £85,600. 

SECTION  V. 

On  the  Continent. — The  evangelical  Christians  of  France  and 
French  Switzerland  sustain  several  institutions,  whose  object  is 
the  promotion   of  pure  religion  among  the  Roman  Catholic 


AND    REGISTER.  260 

population,  the  principal  of  which  are  the  Evangelical  Societies 
of  France  and  Geneva.  But  as  these  efforts  belong  more  par- 
ticularly to  another  head  of  our  subject,  we  will  speak  here  only 
of  a  society  which  is  designed  for  the  evangelizing  of  the  Prot- 
estant population.  This  is  the  Central  Protestant  Society,  the 
aim  of  which  is  to  increase  the  means  of  instruction  and  preach- 
ing for  dispersed  Protestants.  The  committee  employ  special 
agents,  who  go  from  place  to  place  to  seek  out  isolated  mem- 
bers of  the  Reformed  communion,  and  bring  to  them  the  good 
tidings  of  salvation.  They  also  sustain  a  preparatory  school  for 
the  training  of  young  men  who  are  looking  forward  to  the  min- 
istry. 

In  Germany,  various  associations  have  been  formed  for  home 
evangelization  in  different  regions  of  that  country.  Among 
them  is  the  Gustavus  Adolphus  Society,  established  in  1841, 
at  the  instigation,  and  under  the  patronage  of  the  King  of  Prus- 
sia. Its  object  was  mainly  a  home  missionary  one  ;  and  it  soon 
ext3nded  its  labors  in  various  directions,  accomplishing  a  great 
amount  of  good.  It  did  much  for  the  dispersed  Protestants  m 
the  Papal  portions  of  Germany,  particularly  in  Austria  and  Ba- 
varia. It  also  extended  its  efforts  abroad, — to  some  degree  in 
Australia,  and  in  a  few  instances,  in  this  country.  It  was  un- 
fortunate, however,  that  in  the  formation  of  this  society,  men  of 
heterodox,  as  well  as  orthodox  sentiments,  were  associated  in  its 
direction ;  and  consequently  its  action  did  not  give  entire  satis- 
faction to  either  party. 

At  the  Wittemberg  Conference,  in  1848, — a  convention  of 
evangelical  ministers  and  laymen,  for  consultation  on  the  in- 
terests of  religion — a  Committee  for  Home  Missions  was  formed, 
with  a  view  to  uniting  and  superintending  these  several  enter- 
prises. This  measure  was  warmly  sustained  by  a  number  of 
excellent  men — particularly  by  a  Mr.  "Wichern,  with  whom  the 
design  originated.  An  auxiliary  association  was  forthwith 
formed  at  Hamburg,  and  several  individuals  came  forward  to 


270  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

offer  themselves  as  laborers  in  tlils  important  work.  In  the 
programme  of  the  Central  Committee  of  the  "  German  Home 
Mission,"  published,  in  the  early  part  of  1849,  the  objects  of  the 
society  were  stated  as  being,  1st,  The  combining  and  organizing 
into  one  harmonious  whole,  the  hitherto  isolated,  and  conse- 
quently, ineffective  efforts  of  a  home  missionary  nature  through- 
out Germany  ;  and  2dly,  the  formation  of  new  spheres  of  ope- 
ration, in  places  hitherto  unoccupied. 

*  One  of  the  fields  towards  which  the  new  society  first  directed 
its  attention,  was  the  German  population  in  some  of  the  foreign 
cities,  particularly  London  and  Paris.  Another,  and  to  us,  most 
important  one,  was  among  the  many  thousands  of  German 
emigrants,  who  yearly  leave  the  seaports  of  that  country  for  our 
own,  and  for  other  lands.  A  third,  and  very  interesting  enter- 
prise upon  which  the  society  has  entered,  is  the  evangelizing  of 
the  district  ot  the  Schwarzwald,  particularly  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Neukirch,  where  the  labors  of  the  missionary,  Wilhelmi, 
have  already  produced  happy  results. 

At  the  Conference  of  1850,  which  met  in  September  at 
Stuttgart,  the  Committee  of  Home  Missions  made  its  report  for 
the  year.  We  learn  that  the  number  of  its  laborers  at  present 
is  one  hundred  and  fifty  ;  scattered  over  the  various  states  of 
Germany,  and  actively  engaged  in  the  home  missionary  work. 
Sixty-one  associations  are  connected  with  the  Central  Committee 
as  auxiliaries.  But  in  addition  to  these  important  instrumen- 
talities, the  Committee  operates  in  other  ways  for  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  the  country  ;  such  as  the  publication  of  religious  books, 
the  dissemination  of  the  Scriptures,  colportage,  itinerancy  of 
preachers,  chapels  established  for  the  benefit  of  workmen  on  the 
railroads,  the  foundation  of  asylums  and  schools  for  orphans, 
&c.  Respecting  the  last  of  these  departments  it  is  stated,  that 
within  the  past  year  alone,  forty  houses  of  refuge  for  neglected 
children  were  established,  in  eighteen  different  states  of  Germany. 

This  home  missionary  enterprise  is  of  a  most  hopeful  and 


AND    REGISTER.  27l 

encouraging  nature.  We  trust  we  shall  soon  hear  of  its  firm 
establishment  and  rapid  development,  as  a  successful  instrumen- 
tality in  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  throughout  the  destitute  por- 
tions of  that  country. 

We  here  terminate  our  statements  respecting  the  work  of 
domestic  evangelization  in  Protestant  lands.  It  will  be  seen, 
how  small  and  insignificant  are  these  efforts,  compared  with  the 
extent  of  the  wants  that  exist  for  them.  Yet  there  is  much  to 
excite  high  expectation  and  earnest  prayer,  that  the  next  fifty 
years  may  witness  a  great  improvement  in  these  respects. 


CHAPTER  YII. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL   SOCIETIES. 

SECTION  I. 

England. — We  shall  not  enter  at  any  length  upon  the  history 
of  the  Sabbath-school  enterprise,  in  its  commencement  and  early 
history  in  England.  The  labors  of  Robert  Raikes  of  Gloucester, 
and  WilHam  Fox  of  London,  are  well  known.  It  was  in  1785 
that  the  "  Sunday-school  Society^''  was  estabhshed,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  organizing  and  sustaining  Sunday-schools  throughout 
Great  Britain.  This  society  still  exists  and  prospers  ;  though 
its  operations  are  not  so  extensive  as  those  of  some  other  bodies. 
Its  expenditures  for  the  last  year  amounted  to  £112  10^.  od. ; 
the  number  of  schools  assisted  was  one  hundred  and  three. 
The  total  number  of  books  granted  to  schools,  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  institution,  has  been  52,297  Bibles,  217,684 
Testaments,  and  1,610,551  class-books. 

The  Sunday-school  Union,  in  England,  is  a  much  larger  and 
more  efficient  association.  It  was  established  in  the  year  1803. 
Its  expenditure  for  the  last  year  amounted  to  £1,251  95.  Qd. ; 
sales  £6,595  15s.  8c?.  The  number  of  schools  in  connection  with 
the  Union  is  six  hundred  and  twenty-three ;  of  which  five  hun- 
dred are  in  London.  The  total  number  of  scholars  is  123,949. 
The  Committee  opened,  some  years  ago,  a  reading-room  and 
library  for  the  use  of  Sunday-school  teachers ;  an  excellent  plan, 
which  we  should  be  glad  to  see  adopted  in  our  cities  and  largo 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER.  2*3  i 

towns.  The  number  of  subscribers  to  this  reading-room  is  mo^6 
than  one  thousand. 

The  Church  of  England  Sunday-school  Institute  was  estab- 
lished in  1844.  Its  income  for  the  hist  year  was  £907  85. 
The  number  of  its  schools  is  191,  most  of  which  are  located  in 
London  and  suburbs.  The  number  of  scholars  in  London  is 
12,640. 

Ireland. — The  Sunday-school  Society  for  Ireland  was  formed 
in  1819,  and  is  one  of  the  most  flourishing  and  successful  in 
existence.  Many  thousands  of  ignorant,  neglected  children  has 
it  been  instrumental  in  bringing  to  a  knowledge  of  religious 
truth.  We  are  not  informed  as  to  the  present  number  of  its 
schools  and  scholars.  Its  income  for  the  last  year  amounted  to 
£2,394. 

The  Continent. — On  the  Continent  of  Europe,  very  little  has 
been  done  for  this  enterprise.  Some  interest  in  it  has  been 
awakened  in  France,  Switzerland  and  Germany  ;  but  we  believe 
there  are  but  few  Sunday-schools  in  either  country. 


SECTION  IL 

The  United  States. — In  our  own  country,  the  Sunday-schooi 
cause  has  received  its  most  extensive  development.  The  first 
permanent  organization  of  which  mention  is  made  was  the 
"  First-day  or  Sunday-school  Society,"  established  in  Philadelphia 
in  the  year  1*791.  Various  denominations  of  Christians  united 
in  its  support,  and  its  first  president  was  the  late  Bishop  White^ 
The  New  York  Sunday-school  Union  was  instituted  in  1816. 
It  continues  to  the  present  day,  as  an  auxiliary  body,  and  is  one 
of  the  most  active  and  efficient  organizations  of  the  kind.  The 
"  Philadelphia  Sunday  and  Adult  School  Union"  was  formed 
in  1817. 

These  societies,  in  1824,  were  merged  into  the  American 
12* 


274  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Simdaij- school  Union,  established  at  Philadelphia,  a  society 
whose  object  and  plan  have  been  to  unite  Christians  of  the 
several  evangelical  denominations  in  the  work  of  establishing, 
sustaining  and  supplying  Sunday-schools  throughout  the  coun- 
try, particularly  in  destitute  portions  of  it.  The  affairs  and  funds 
of  the  Union  are  intrusted  to  a  Board  of  laymen,  consisting  of 
officers  elected  by  the  managers,  and  Managers  elected  by  the 
Society.  One  of  the  instrumentalities  of  this  Society's  operations 
has  been  the  employing  of  agents,  to  visit  remote  settlements 
where  no  Sunday-schools  exist,  and  by  personal  labor  to  organize 
such  schools.  Another  is,  the  furnishing  of  these  schools  with 
the  requisite  books.  The  publication  of  religious  books  for  the 
young,  both  for  instruction  in  the  school  and  for  reading  in  the 
family,  has  been  an  important  department  of  the  Sunday-school 
enterprise.  The  number  of  library  books  thus  issued  is  more 
than  seven  hundred;  and  the  total  number  of  the  Society's 
publications  nearly  two  thousand.  During  the  last  year  alone 
fifty-five  volumes  were  issued.  The  number  of  agents  employed 
was  one  hundred  and  three ;  they  established  during  the  year 
1,238  new  schools,  and  visited  and  re-organized  2,345  others; 
embracing  altogether,  in  round  numbers,  20,000  teachers  and 
157,000  scholars.  The  receipts  of  the  Union  for  the  last  year 
were,  from  donations  $52,151 :  from  sales  &c.,  $207,764. 

Although  the  Sunday-school  Union  is  supported  by  Christians 
of  all  the  principal  religious  denominations,  two  of  them  have 
separate  societies,  which  are  of  a  denominational  character.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  sustains  a  Sunday-school  Union, 
with  which  are  connected  7,334  schools,  and  nearly  400,000 
scholars.  The  library  published  by  this  Society  numbers  860 
volumes;  the  total  number  of  its  pubhcations  being  1,885. 
Receipts  for  the  year  1849-50,  |5,150  ;  the  amount  of  sales  is 
not  given. 

The  Sunday-school  Union  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
was  formed  in  1826.     The  number  of  its  publications  is  about 


AND    REGISTER.  2  IB 

three  hundred.  This  Society  is  sustained  by  many  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Episcopal  Church ;  a  large  portion  of  them,  however, 
adhere  to  the  Union  at  Philadelphia. 

The  Massachusetts  Sabbath-school  Society  is  another  very 
important  organization,  for  the  estabhshment  of  Sunday-schools 
and  the  publication  of  suitable  books  and  other  requisites.  The 
total  number  of  its  publications  is  over  three  thousand.  The 
business  of  the  depository  for  last  year  amounted  to  |2 1,056, 
being  an  increase  of  $2,000  over  the  preceding  year.  Dona- 
tions, $4,676. 


CHAPTER  Vin. 

EDUCATION  SOCIETIES. 
SECTION  I. 

The  Education  Society  is  an  institution  of  comparatively  re- 
cent date,  whose  design  is  to  assist  pious  young  men  of  good 
qualifications,  but  having  small  means,  in  preparing  for  the  min- 
istry of  the  Gospel.  Of  such  institutions  there  are  but  few 
abroad ;  of  which  we  shall  speak  at  the  close  of  this  chapter. 
The  principal  societies  of  the  kind  are  to  be  found  in  the  Uni- 
ted States  ;  we  will  briefly  notice  them. 

United  States. — The  American  Education  Society  was  formed 
at  Boston,  in  1816.  It  was  not  of  a  denominational  character, 
but  had  for  its  object  the  assistance  of  pious  students  for  the 
ministry  in  any  of  the  evangelical  churches ;  imposing  upon  the 
recipients  of  its  bounty  no  conditions  save  an  engagement  to  go 
through  a  full  course  of  collegiate  and  theological  education  in 
some  approved  college  and  seminary,  and  to  refund  the  sum 
advanced  to  aid  them,  should  they  acquire  the  means  to  do  so. 
It  has  accordingly  rendered  help  to  young  men  belonging  to 
eight  different  denominations;  and  the  number  of  its  beneficia- 
ries at  one  time  amounted  to  eleven  hundred.  The  sums 
granted  by  this  Society  to  those  assisted  by  it,  vary  from  forty- 
eight  to  seventy-five  dollars  a  year.  Its  funds  have  from  time 
to  time  been  liberally  augmented  by  bequests  from  its  friends  ; 
the  late  Dr.  Porter,  among  others,  bequeathed  to  it  the  sum  of 
fifteen  thousand  dollars.     Many  of  our  most  eminent  ministers 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER.  277 

of  the  Gospel  have  received  assistance  from  it ;  and  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  missionaries  of  the  American  Board  obtained  their 
preparatory  education  under  its  patronage.  Of  late  years,  how- 
ever, the  number  of  young  men  supported  by  the  Ainerican 
Education  Society  has  very  much  diminished ;  a  fact  which  is 
to  be  accounted  for  partly  by  the  estabHshment  of  separate  edu- 
cational societies  by  several  of  the  denominations  who  formerly 
united  in  it.  Its  expenditure  for  the  last  year  was  830,181  53. 
This  Society  has  permanent  funds  of  a  considerable  amount  un- 
der its  control.  The  number  of  young  men  aided  during  the 
last  year  was  436 ;  of  whom  207  were  receiving  a  classical,  and 
229  a  theological  education. 

The  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Collegiate  and  Theological 
Education  at  the  West^  has  been  in  existence  seven  years.  Its 
object  is  "  to  afford  assistance  to  collegiate  and  theological  in- 
stitutions at  the  West,  in  such  a  manner  and  so  long  only  as, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  Directors  of  the  Society,  the  exigencies 
of  the  institutions  may  demand."  The  main  ground  of  this 
Society's  claim  upon  the  support  of  the  religious  community  is 
in  the  fact  that  the  colleges  which  it  aids  are  almost  exclusively 
the  fruits  of  home  missionary  labors ;  that  they  were  founded 
mainly  with  the  view  of  raising  up  a  ministry  for  the  West ; 
and  that  all  efforts  made  for  the  founding  of  such  institutions 
go  upon  the  supposition  that  an  educated  and  evangelical  minis- 
try constitutes,  under  God,  the  great  central  instrumentality  for 
the  evangelization  of  the  West.  The  field  of  the  Society  at 
present  embraces  the  four  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and 
Wisconsin.  Six  colleges  have  been  aided  during  the  year 
1849-50;  and  the  receipts  for  the  same  year  amounted  to 
$44,623  31. 

The  Board  of  Education  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  (Old 
School),  is  another  very  efficient  and  successful  organization  for 
the  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry.  The  whole  num- 
ber of  students  whom  it  has  carried  through  a  preparatory 


278  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

course,  from  its  foundation  in  1819,  is  1,876.  During  the  past 
year  it  has  assisted  373  young  men.  This  Board  has  also  the 
charge  of  the  Assembly's  schemes  for  parochial  schools,  presby- 
terial  academies,  and  colleges.  The  number  of  parochial  schools 
already  established  is  100  ;  of  academies,  under  the  superintend- 
ence of  different  Presbyteries,  32  ;  and  of  colleges,  strictly  under 
the  supervision  of  the  Church,  11.  Of  the  colleges,  seven  have 
received  aid  from  the  Board.  The  seminaries  at  Alleghany  and 
New  Albany  have  also  been  aided.  Receipts,  &c.,  for  the  year 
1849-50,  135,975  81. 

Other  religious  denominations,  as  we  have  already  intimated, 
sustain  their  own  educational  enterprises ;  of  which,  however, 
we  have  not  space  to  speak  in  detail. 


SECTION  II. 

Europe. — There  is  but  little  for  us  to  say  of  Education  Soci- 
eties abroad ;  for  there  is  not  much  doing  in  this  way  either  in 
Great  Britain  or  on  the  Continent.  There  are,  indeed,  in  Eng- 
land several  societies  for  the  education  of  children  and  youth, 
such  as  the  Home  and  Colonial  School  Society,  and  the  Ragged 
School  Union,  as  it  is  called,  and  in  Ireland  the  Church  Educa- 
tion Society.  But  our  subject  refers  more  particularly  to  the 
education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry.  In  the  English 
Establishment,  there  are,  as  is  well  known,  scholarships  in  the 
Universities  for  the  support  of  young  men,  who  have  not  the 
means  of  obtaining  an  education,  and  provision  is  also  made 
in  some  of  the  Dissenting  Colleges  and  Seminaries  for  the  same 
purpose.  The  Church  Missionary  Society  has,  at  Ishngton,  an 
institution,  which  would  come  under  this  designation,  for  the 
training  of  young  men  for  the  missionary  work.  This  institu- 
tion numbers  at  present  nineteen  students. 

The  Established  Church  of  Scotland  has,  among  its  benevo- 


AND    REGISTER.  279 

lent  enterprises,  an  Education  Scheme,  whose  income  for  the 
last  year  amounted  to  £6,453  95.,  or  $31,234  52.  Its  opera- 
tions, however,  are  mainly  directed  to  the  education  of  the 
young. 

The  number  of  its  schools  is  214,  with  an  attendance  of  six- 
teen to  seventeen  thousand  pupils.  Its  Normal  Schools  for  the 
training  of  teachers,  contain  207  young  men  and  women.  The 
Free  Church  has  a  similar  scheme,  the  operations  of  which  wo 
are  not  able  to  state  in  particular.  Its  income  last  year  was 
£12,196  155.  5d.,  or  |59,032. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

THE   TEMPEKANCE   REFORMATION. 

Among  the  fruits,  as  well  as  the  exponents  of  the  Progress 
of  Evangelical  Religion  during  the  first  half  of  the  XlXth  cent- 
ury, we  must  place  what  has  been  called  The  Temperance 
Reformation.  This  movement  should  be  ranked  with  those 
moral  reforms  which  have  exerted  the  most  benign  influence 
upon  mankind  in  our  times. 


SECTION  I. 

THE    WESTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

The  United  States. — The  steady  and  dreadful  increase  of  in- 
temperance in  the  United  States,  during  the  early  part  of  the 
present  century,  excited  great  solicitude  in  the  minds  of  many 
good  men  of  that  day.  As  early  as  1804,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush, 
of  Philadelphia,  pubhshed  a  tract,  entitled :  "  An  Inquiry  into 
the  Effects  of  Ardent  Spirits  upon  the  Human  Body  and  Mind,'' 
which  called  the  attention  of  the  public,  especially  the  religious 
portion  of  it,  to  this  fearful  subject.  Ecclesiastical  bodies  passed 
resolutions,  discouraging  the  habitual  use  of  ardent  spirits,  at 
different  times  after  that  epoch.  The  "  Massachusetts  Society 
for  the  Suppression  of  Intemperance,"  was  formed  in  1813. 
Discourses  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  Dr.  Humphrey, 
and  others,  about  this  period,  created  a  deep  impression  in  re- 
gard to  the  evils  of  intemperance. 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER.  281 

On  the  10th  of  January,  1826,  the  first  Temperance  Society 
was  formed  at  Boston,  the  members  of  which  pledged  themselves 
to  abstain  entirely  from  the  use  of  distilled  liquors,  exce[)t  \vht>n 
prescribed  by  a  physician.  This  was  called  "  The  American 
Temperance  Society."  From  this  event  we  may  date  the  great 
Temperance  movement  in  the  United  States,  and  in  the  world 
entire.  The  Rev.  Drs.  Hewitt  and  Edwards  were  among  its 
earliest  advocates.  By  means  of  the  pulpit,  the  public  meeting, 
and  the  press,  this  noble  cause  was  ably  and  zealously  advanced. 
Temperance  Societies  were  soon  formed  in  many  places  through- 
out the  country.  State  Temperance  Societies,  County  Temper- 
ance Societies,  City  Temperance  Societies,  were  speedily  organ- 
ized. The  number  of  the  members  of  these  societies  increased 
rapidly,  until  it  was  estimated  that  in  less  than  ten  years  it  had 
reached  two  millions!  In  1840,  successsful  efforts  began  to 
be  made  to  reform  inebriates.  The  first  society  composed  of 
such  persons  was  formed  in  Baltimore.  Mr.  John  Hawkins, 
who  was  a  member  of  that  Society,  travelled  extensively  in  the 
United  States,  and  was  eminently  useful  in  forming  what  are 
called  "  Washingtonian  Societies,"  composed  of  those  who  had 
once  been  drunkards.  Great  success  attended,  for  several  years, 
this  movement.     Many  intemperate  people  were  saved. 

The  American  Temperance  Union  was  formed  in  1837,  and 
soon  became  the  leading  society  of  the  land.  Its  agents,  and 
its  monthly  periodical  and  other  pubHcations,  have  done  a  vast 
amount  of  good. 

Among  those  whose  writings  have  contributed  much  to  ad- 
vance this  blessed  work,  we  may  mention  those  of  Drs.  Beecher, 
Humphrey,  Edwards,  Cheever,  and  Marsh,  among  the  clergy ; 
Di-s.  Rush  and  Kittredge,  and  L.  M.  Sargent,  Esq.,  among  the 
laity.  Among  the  eloquent  and  effective  public  speakers,  who 
have  advocated  it,  we  may  name  Messrs.  Hewitt,  Kirk,  Gough, 
Marsh,  Hunt,  and  Jewett. 

Almost  all  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  a  great  num- 


^o2  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

ber  of  Members  of  Congress,  Governors  of  States,  Judges, 
Clergymen,  Physicians,  and  other  persons  of  influence  have  en- 
rolled themselves  under  the  banners  of  these  societies.  Thou- 
sands of  distilleries  have  ceased.  The  consumption  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  has  greatly  diminished.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of 
men  have  been  rescued  from  the  drunkard's  end.  Crime  and 
pauperism  have  been  wonderfully  restrained.  The  best  interests 
of  mankind  for  this  life  and  that  to  come  have  been  signally 
advanced.  And  yet,  such  is  the  depravity  of  human  nature, 
that  this  work  must  be  constantly  performing !  It  is  like  weav- 
ing Penelope's  web.  But  so  it  is  with  every  other  species  of 
moral  reformation.  It  is  to  be  always  done  till  the  close  of  the 
career  of  the  human  race  on  this  globe  of  ours. 

British  Possessions  in  America. — The  Temperance  move- 
ment soon  reached  the  British  Provinces,  and  numerous  societies 
sprang  up  in  the  Canadas,  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  Prince 
Edward's  Island,  Newfoundland,  as  well  as  in  the  remote  settle- 
ments in  the  northern  part  of  the  continent  of  North  America. 

Everywhere  the  Temperance  Reformation  has  been  most  sal- 
utary in  preparing  the  way  for  the  reception  of  the  Gospel. 


SECTION  11. 

THE    EASTERN    HEMISPHERE. 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland. — The  Temperance  movement 
soon  extended  to  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  Temperance 
Societies  sprang  up  in  all  parts  of  the  "  three  Kingdoms."  But 
for  a  long  time  their  progress  was  not  rapid.  The  usages  of 
society,  the  power  of  fashion,  and  the  inveteracy  of  habit  were 
great  obstacles.  To  this  perhaps,  ought  to  be  added  the  un- 
favorable influence  which  the  characters  of  some  of  the  promi- 
nent advocates  of  the  cause  in  England,  in  later  times,  have 
exerted  upon  it. 


AND    REGISTER.  283 

In  Ireland  the  labors  of  such  men  as  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edgar, 
were  not  without  happy  effects.  But  those  of  Theobald  Mathew, 
a  benevolent  and  zealous  Roman  Catholic  priest,  have  been 
attended  with  wonderful  success.  Several  millions  have  taken 
the  pledge  from  his  hand  to  abstain  from  all  intoxicating  drinks, 
and  whilst  many  have  fallen  again,  vast  numbers  have  adhered 
faithfully  to  it. 

The  Continent  of  Europe. — A  little  was  done  in  Sweden  at 
an  early  day,  in  the  way  of  establishing  Temperance  societies  on 
the  plan  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  suppression  of  In- 
temperance ;  but  they  accomplished  little  good.  It  was  not 
until  the  year  1836  that  the  Temperance  cause  was  placed  on  a 
proper  basis,  and  began  to  make  substantial  progress,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  late  King,  and  his  son  the  present  monarch. 
In  1840  and  '46,  the  author  of  this  volume  visited  Sweden  a  sec- 
ond and  third  time.  During  the  latter  visit,  he  attended  a  grand 
Temperance  Convention  at  Stockholm  which  lasted  three  days, 
and  which  was  attended  by  the  King  and  Queen,  the  Heir- 
apparent,  and  many  of  the  most  distinguished  persons  connected 
with  the  Court.  At  that  Convention,  it  was  reported  that  there 
were  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  members  of  the  Temperance 
Societies  in  Sweden,  many  thousands  in  Norway,  Denmark  and 
Holland,  and  more  than  a  million  in  Germany  !  The  number 
in  the  last  named  country  has  since  increased  to  more  than  a 
milhon  and  a  half! 

A  little  progress  has  been  made  in  Russia,  Poland,  Switzer- 
land, and  France ;  but  it  is  not  worthy  of  special  notice. 

Other  portions  of  the  Old  World. — Temperance  Societies 
have  sprung  up  also  in  the  British  Possessions  in  India,  at  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  in  the  Colonies  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  as 
well  in  Australia  and  other  islands  in  the  possession  of  the 
English.  They  have  also  been  formed  in  the  Sandwich  Islands? 
whose  monarch,  like  the  King  of  Sweden,  has  taken  a  deep  in- 
terest in   the  good   work,  and  attends  in  person  the   pubhc 


284  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

meetings  of  the  National  Society.  It  is  to  be  deplored  that 
Louis  Philippe  did  not  feel  a  like  interest  in  this  blessed  cause ; 
for  had  he  done  so,  French  brandy  would  not  have  been  forced 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  upon  the  poor  people  of  these 
islands,  recently  converted  to  Christianity. 


CHAPTER  X. 

AMERICAN    COLONIZATION    SOCIETT. 

In  this  chapter  it  is  our  intention  to  speak  of  the  colonizing  of 
the  colored  race  on  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa  only  in  its  rela- 
tions to  the  great  work  of  extending  the  kingdom  of  God  in  this 
■world ;  the  planting  of  Christianity  on  the  Western  side  of  that 
vast  but  benighted  Continent,  whence  their  ancestors  were 
carried  away  by  violence  to  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

Of  the  influence  of  the  American  Colonization  Society  upon 
the  great  and  very  difficult  question  of  Slavery  in  the  United 
States  it  is  not  our  intention  to  say  anything.  Its  friends 
maintain  that  it  opens  the  way  for  the  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject of  Slavery  and  all  its  evils,  even  in  those  portions  of  the 
country  where  there  is  the  greatest  reluctance,  or  rather  an 
utter  impossibility  at  present,  to  discuss  the  subject  in  a  direct 
and  abstract  manner  at  all ;  that  it  enables  those  slaveholders 
who  desire  to  liberate  their  slaves  to  send  them  to  a  country 
where  there  is  more  prospect  of  their  doing  well  than  in  the 
Northern  States;  and  that  it  opens  a  surer  pathway  for  the 
elevation  of  the  black  man  than  can  be  found  in  this  the  land 
of  his  servitude  and  degradation,  where  an  overwhelming 
immigration  of  the  poorest  classes  of  Europe  threatens  to  crowd 
him  out  of  employment,  and  to  keep  him  in  a  state  of  perpetual 
depression  and  poverty. 

On  i^  other  hand,  the  enemies  of  the  Society  and  of  the 
cause  which  it  advocates,  deny  the  impossibility  of  liberating  the 


286  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

slaves  and  letting  tliera  remain  in  this  country  consistently  with 
their  own  advantage,  and  ultimate  rescue  from  their  present 
degradation ;  that  the  Colonization  scheme  tends  to  perpetuate 
the  prejudice  which  exists  among  the  white  population  against 
the  color  of  the  black  race,  etc.  etc. 

"  Non  nostrum  inter  vos  tantas  comjjonere  litesy — Without, 
therefore,  undertaking  to  discuss  the  bearing  of  the  Colonization 
Society  upon  the  question  of  Slavery,  we  shall  do  what  falls 
rather  within  the  scope  and  design  of  this  volume, — speak  of  its 
probable,  or  rather  certain,  influence  upon  the  work  of  civilizing 
and  Christianizing  Africa.  Should  it  turn  out  in  the  progress 
of  this  world's  history  that  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  the  Universe 
has  ordained  that  the  carrying  of  the  negro  race  from  the  coasts 
of  Africa,  though  most  cruel  on  the  part  of  those  who  did  the 
deed,  and  their  enslavement  in  America  for  centuries,  should  be 
so  overruled  as  to  lead  to  the  return  of  many  of  them  to  the 
land  of  their  ancestors,  not  a  Heathen  and  savage  people,  but 
Christian  and  civilized,  and  charged  with  the  mission  of  diffusing 
the  blessings  of  Christianity  and  civilization  in  that  dark  and  de- 
graded continent,  who  will  not  admire  the  wisdom,  and  goodness 
of  that  God  who  "  maketh  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him,  and 
restraineth  the  remainder  thereof?" 

The  project  of  colonizing  the  free  people  of  color  of  the 
United  States  on  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa  was  first  suoro-est- 
ed  by  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Finley,  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  and 
was  at  once  received  with  much  favor  by  many  of  the  most 
distinguished  men  of  tlie  country,  both  in  the  Church  and  the 
State.  In  the  year  1817,  the  American  Colonization  Society  was 
formed,  with  the  Honorable  Bushrod  Washington,  a  nephew  of 
ihe  illustrious  "  Father  of  his  country,"  at  its  head. 

Its  objects,  as  set  forth  in  its  constitution,  were — 

"  1st.  To  rescue  the  free  colored  people  of  the  United  Stat^ 
from  their  political  and  social  disadvantages.  ^ 

"  2d.  To  place  them  in  a  counti-y  where  they  may  enjoy  thu 


AND    REGISTER.  287 

benefits  of  free  government,  with  all  the  blessings  which  it  brings 
in  its  train. 

"  Sd.  To  spread  civilization,  sound  morals,  and  ti'ue  religion 
throughout  the  continent  of  Africa. 

"  4th.  To  arrest  and  destroy  the  slave-trade. 

"5th.  To  afford  slave-owners,  who  wish,. or  are  willing,  to  lib- 
erate their  slaves,  an  asylum  for  their  reception." 

In  the  year  1822,  the  first  permanent  settlement  was  formed, 
at  Cape  Messurado,  and  called  Monrovia.  The  name  given  to 
the  territory  on  which  this  colonization  is  going  forward  is 
Liberia.  The  extent  of  country  which  has  been  bought  by 
the  American  Colonization  Society  from  the  native  chieftains 
is  now  about  400  miles  in  length,  stretching  along  the  coast — 
between  4  desj.  21  min.  and  7  deo\  north  latitude.  Its  eastern 
or  interior  boundary  is  not  well  defined;  it  is  probably  upon 
an  average  about  20  miles  distant  from  the  coast. 

o 

In  the  northern  end  of  the  territory,  the  greater  part  of  tha 
population  is  to  be  found.  There  is  Monrovia,  the  Capital  of 
the  New  Republic,  and  within  the  circuit  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles  are  quite  a  number  of  well-built  and  growing  towns  and 
villages.  In  the  southern  part  of  the  country  is  the  Marjdand 
Colony,  at  Cape  Palmas,  with  several  flourishing  villages.  Tha 
number  of  colored  persons  who  have  been  sent  to  Liberia  proper, 
or  the  northern  end  of  the  territory,  is  7,160;  to  Cape  Palmas, 
800  ;  total  7,960, — ^from  the  commencement  of  the  enterprise. 

At  first  the  government  was  administered  by  an  agent,  or  gov- 
ernor, appointed  by  the  Society.  As  the  population  increased 
and  the  way  was  prepared  for  it,  the  people  were  gradually  put  in 
possession  of  the  law-making  and  law-executing  power.  In 
1847,  a  regular  republican  and  independent  government  was 
formed,  having  a  President,  (J.  J.  Roberts,  Esq.,)  a  Vice 
President,  (S.  A.  Benson,  Esq,,)  a  Secretary  of  State,  a  Treas- 
urer, a  Senate,  and  a  House  of  Representatives.  England, 
France,  and  Prussia  have  acknowledged  the  independence  of  the 


288  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Liberian  Republic,  and  the  first  nHracd  has  made  a  treaty  of 
commerce  with  it.  Upwards  of  80,000  of  the  natives  have 
become  partially  civilized,  and  have  enrolled  themselves  as  citi- 
zens of  the  Republic.  The  colonists  have  a  flourishing  com- 
merce. They  have  not  only  succeeded  in  suppressing  the  slave- 
trade  along  their  own  coast,  but  have  also  made  treaties  with 
several  tribes,  numbering  more  than  200,000  souls,  for  the  dis- 
contin.uance  of  that  traffic. 

The  country  is  watered  by  many  streams,  some  of  them 
navigable  for  thirty  or  forty  miles.  Though  low  along  the 
coast,  it  gradually  becomes  undulating  and  even  hilly.  At  the 
distance  of  less  than  100  miles,  there  are  high  mountains,  which 
defend  the  colonies  from  the  burning  winds  of  the  Sahara  to- 
wards the  north-east. 

The  productions  are  numerous,  among  which  we  may  name 
rice,  corn,  coftee,  all  tropical  fruits,  cotton,  etc.  Camwood  and 
other  dye-woods,  ivory,  shells,  palm  oil,  and  many  other  things 
are  articles  of  export,  and  the  commerce  of  the  country  is  now 
estimated  to  be  worth  $500,000  annually. 

The  progress  of  this  colony  has  been,  indeed,  wonderful  in  all 
that  concerns  its  material  interests.  And  it  will  not  be  long  till 
the  400  miles  of  its  coast  will  be  adorned  with  settlements  of 
civilized  men,  nor  will  it  be  many  years  till  these  colonies  will 
penetrate  into  the  interior,  and  open  roads  up  to  the  mountains, 
whilst  its  steamboats  will  be  seen  ploughing  its  rivers  and  their 
estuaries,  as  well  as  pursuing  their  way  along  its  coasts. 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  progress  of  these  colonies  in  all 
that  relates  to  their  moral  and  religious  interests  ?  Impartial 
visitors  represent  this  progress  to  have  been  still  more  remark- 
able. The  same  unvarying  testimony  is  borne  by  the  ministers 
and  missionaries,  vs'ho  labor  among  them,  of  every  denomina- 
tion. 

There  are  now  more  than  thirty  schools,  and  among  them 
several,  such  as  the  Alexander  Hifjh  School,  at  Monrovia,  the 


AND    REGISTER.  289 

Ejnscoiml  Mission  School,  at  Cape  Palm  as,  the  White  Plains 
Methodist  School,  on  the  St.  Paul's  River,  hold  quite  an  eleva- 
ted rank. 

Faithful  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  of  the  Methodist,  Presbyte- 
rian, Baptist,  and  Episcopal  Churches,  are  laboring  with  success 
in  these  colonies.  We  very  much  doubt  if  the  glorious  Gospel 
of  our  Lord  has  had  greater  success  in  any  part  of  the  New 
World  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  the  people  than  among 
these  colonies.  The  Methodist  Mission  has  had  sixteen  mission- 
aries, thirteen  principal  stations,  and  between  1,100  and  1,200 
communicants,  of  whom  from  100  to  200  are  native  converts. 

The  Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions  has  three  missions  in 
Liberia,  and  one  among  the  natives,  at  Settee,  near  Cape  Palmas. 

The  American  Baptist  Union  has  had  a  mission,  for  several 
years,  among  the  Bassas,  comprising  one  station,  several  out- 
posts, and  five  or  six  native  helpers. 

The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
has  had  a  mission  at  Cape  Palmas  and  its  vicinity  for  fifteen 
years.  This  mission  now  includes  four  ordained  missionaries,  a 
physician,  a  teacher,  and  several  native  assistant  teachers. 

The  reports  of  all  these  missionaries  (of  whom  only  two  are 
white  men)  display  a  remarkable  spirit  of  devotion  to  the  work, 
and  strong  confidence  in  its  importance  and  success.  They 
rightly  judge  that  these  colonies  furnish  admirable  points  of  ir- 
radiation from  which  the  Truth  may  be  made  to  shine  far  into 
Africa,  and  ultimately  enlighten  it,  even  in  its  most  interior 
portions, — now  so  filled  with  ignorance  and  degradation. 

Northward  of  Liberia  is  the  Enghsh  possession  of  Sierra  Leone, 
with  its  43,000  inhabitants,  its  printing  presses,  its  prosperous 
missions,  its  schools,  its  many  churches  and  chapels, — from 
which  the  Gospel  is  destined  to  penetrate  far  into  Africa. 

13 


CHAPTER  XL 

EVANGELIZATION  OF  PAPAL  COUNTRIES. 

It  was  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  first  half  of  the  XlXth 
century,  as  well  as  one  of  the  fruits  of  that  resuscitation  of  true 
religion  which  commenced  about  the  beginning  of  it,  that  the 
duty  and  importance  of  imparting  the  Gospel  in  its  purity — as 
contained  in  the  sacred  Scriptures — to  Papal  nations  began  to 
be  felt  by  a  goodly  number  of  devout  and  zealous  Protestants, 
especially  in  England.  In  the  XVIth  century,  and  especially 
during  what  may  be  called  the  "Reformation  Era,"  which,  alas, 
was  of  short  duration,  the  work  of  converting  the  many  miUions 
who  still  adhere  to  Rome,  was  rightly  appreciated,  and  with  a 
good  degree  of  vigor  prosecuted.  But  after  Protestant  nations 
had  been  formed,  and  under  the  influence  of  a  worldly  and 
ambitious  policy  began  to  be  arrayed  against  Papal  ones,  the 
wars  which  ensued  had  the  deplorable  effect  of  making  Prot- 
estants hate  Romanists,  and  regard  them  as  being  beyond 
the  pale  of  hope.  The  bloody  persecutions  which  the  Protes- 
tants suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  France 
and  Flanders ;  in  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Hungary ;  in  Poland, 
in  Spain,  and  in  Italy,  as  well  as  the  massacres  which  they  suf- 
fered in  Ireland,  greatly  contributed  to  produce  the  same  result. 
The  consequence  was,  that  Papal  countries  became  closed  to  all 
Protestant  effort  for  a  long  time,  an4  the  Reformation  entirely 
ceased  to  advanpe. 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER.  291 

Let  US  bless  God  that  this  long  night  of  unbelief  and  un- 
kindness  has  passed  away  in  a  good  degree.  The  progress  of 
civil  and  political  liberty  has  opened,  within  a  comparatively 
short  period,  and  is  steadily  opening  still  more  widely  the  doorc 
for  the  entrance  of  the  Truth  into  some  of  the  most  important 
portions  of  the  Papal  world.  This  is  seen  in  the  case  of  France 
and  Belgium,  in  most  of  the  Papal  countries  of  Germany,  in  the 
kingdom  of  Sardinia,  and  to  some  extent  in  South  America.  Con- 
quest has  opened  Poland  somewhat,  and  the  Canadas  completely. 

As  mi*ht  be  expected,  the  infinite  God,  who  by  His  provi- 
dence was  beginning  to  open  Papal  lands  to  the  Gospel,  also  by 
His  Spirit  began  to  put  it  into  the  hearts  of  some  of  His  dear 
children  to  attempt  the  work.  One  of  the  first  movements  of 
this  sort  manifested  itself  in  England  in  the  formation  of  the 
"  Continental  Society,"  which,  in  a  silent  and  cautious  manner, 
— publishing  no  reports, — employed  the  best  men  it  could  find 
to  distribute  the  Scriptures  in  France,  Belgium,  and  various 
other  countries  on  the  Continent  of  Europe.  And  although  its 
operations  were  never  conducted  on  a  large  scale,  yet  this  Asso- 
ciation did  much,  in  this  quiet  way,  during  the  reigns  of  Louis 
XVHL  and  his  brother  Charles  X.  It  was  truly  the  "  day  of 
small  things,"  but  it  was  important  as  a  beginning. 

The  Revolutions  of  1830,  in  France  and  Belgium,  greatly 
opened  the  way  in  both  those  countries  for  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel.  This  gave  a  decided  impulse  to  the  Protestant  Socie- 
ties for  doing  good,  which  had  existed  for  a  few  years,  and  led 
to  the  formation  of  others,  among  which  were  the  "  French  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society"  (1831),  and  the  "  Evangelical  Society  of 
France"  (1833),  both  of  which  have  steadily  and  zealously  pur- 
sued their  work  to  this  day.  The  aid  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  has  been  most  important.  It  is  supposed  that  more 
than  three  millions  of  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
have  been  put  into  circulation  in  France  since  the  year  1819. 
More  than  150,000  copies  are  now  distributed  annually,  and 


292  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Bome  800,000  religious  tracts  and  books.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Evangehcal  Society  of  France,  together  with  the  local  ones 
at  Lyons,  Lille,  and  Bordeaux  have  employed  many  ministers, 
evangelists,  colporteurs,  and  pious  school-teachers  for  the  pro- 
motion of  the  truth,  with  most  encouraging  success,  notwith- 
standing the  violent  opposition  of  the  Romish  priests,  and  often 
of  the  Government,  in  the  very  face  of  the  Charte  of  1830,  and 
that  of  1848. 

The  Evangelical  Society  of  Geneva,  in  Switzerland,  formed  in 
1831,  has  done  much  in  the  eastern  and  southern  parts  of 
France.  Its  receipts  have,  of  late  years,  exceeded  100,000  francs, 
nearly  820,000  ;  whilst  those  of  the  Evangelical  Society  of  France 
have  sometimes  reached  150,000  francs,  or  nearly  830,000. 
The  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society  of  England  has  long  taken  an 
interest  in  the  work  in  France,  and  had  last  year  forty-eight 
chapels,  seventy-six  preaching  places,  and  twenty-four  mission- 
aries, 115  Sabbath-school  teachers,  1,099  Sabbath-school  scholars, 
thirty-nine  local  preachers,  950  church  members,  and  6,160 
attendants  on  public  worship. 

The  American  Baptist  Missionary  Society  has  two  mission- 
aries in  France,  eighteen  stations  and  out-stations,  twenty  native 
ministers  and  assistants,  fifteen  httle  churches,  and  200  or  300 
members. 

Much  has  been  done  also  in  Belgium,  where  a  quarter  of  a 
miUion  of  the  Scriptures  have  been  circulated  since  1830,  and 
where  there  are  now  between  twenty  and  thirty  Protestant  min- 
isters and  evangelists,  ten  or  twelve  colporteurs,  and  several 
pious  teachers.  Great  success  has  attended  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  in  a  considerable  number  of  villages  and  cities  of 
Belgium,  and  that  country  is  now  one  of  the  most  promising 
fields  in  the  whole  papal  world. 

The  resuscitation  of  the  true  Protestant  Faith  in  France  and 
French  Switzerland,  has  led  to  a  similar  movement  in  Canada. 
In  the  year  1835  or  '36,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Olivier  and  his  wife,  the 


AND    REGISTER.  293 

Rev.  Mr.  Roussy  and  Madame  Feller,  came  over  to  Canada  to 
commence  a  mission  at  Montreal.  The  first-named  two  soon 
were  compelled,  by  the  rigors  of  the  climate,  to  return  to  Europe ; 
but  the  labors  of  Mr.  Roussy  and  Madame  Feller  led  to  the, 
founding  of  the  "Grande  Ligne  Mission,"  with  its  several 
stations,  its  schools,  and  its  hundreds  of  converts  from  Rome,  in 
the  southern  border  of  Canada-East. 

Kot  long  afterwards  the  French  Canadian  Missionary  Society 
was  organized,  which  has  several  missionaries,  evangelists,  col- 
porteurs, and  school-teachers,  and  a  College  for  young  men  at 
Pointe  aux  Trembles,  ten  miles  below  Montreal,  and  another 
for  young  women  and  girls  at  the  same  place, — institutions 
which  are  admirably  calculated  to  promote  the  work  of  evangel- 
ization among  the  French  Romanists  in  Canada. 

In  the  year  1834,  a  few  gentlemen  in  New  York  and  other 
cities  in  the  United  States  formed  an  association,  and  sent  the 
writer  of  these  lines  with  his  family  to  Paris,  to  learn  what  the 
American  Churches  could  do  for  the  work  of  evangelization  in 
France,  and  other  papal  countries,  in  Europe.  This  led  to  the 
organization  of  the  "  Foreign  Evangelical  Society,"  in  May, 
1839,  in  whose  service  he  afterwards  visited  Europe  four  times, 
and  resided  there  a  second  time  with  his  family,  from  the 
Autumn  of  1839  to  that  of  1843. 

This  Society  existed  ten  years,  and  extended  effective  help  to 
the  work  in  France  and  Belgium,  employed  one  missionary  in 
Sweden,  one  in  Russia,  one  or  two  in  Germany  for  a  while,  aid- 
ed for  years  the  "  Grande  Ligne  Mission,"  and  afterwards  the 
"  French  Canadian  Missionary  Society"  in  Canada,  had  a  mis- 
sionary at  Valparaiso,  in  South  America,  another  in  Hayti,  and 
had  a  French  missionary  in  New  Orleans,  and  another  in  New 
York. 

In  1849,  the  Foreign  Evangelical  Society  was  united  with 
the  "  American  Protestant  Society," — which  had  been  organ- 
ized for  the  benefit  of  the  increasino;  hundreds  of  thousands  of 


294  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

Romanists  of  foreign  origin  in  tliis  land, — and  the  "  Christian 
Alliance,"  a  society  which  had  silently  been  operating  in  Italy 
for  two  or  three  years.  The  new  society  took  the  name  of  the 
"American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union,"  and  has  been  in  ex- 
istence two  years.  Its  number  of  laborers  at  home  and  abroad, 
last  year,  exceeded  eighty.  It  has  but  just  commenced  its 
career,  and  after  some  struggles  its  prospects  begin  to  brighten. 
France,  Belgium,  Northern  Italy,  Ireland,  Canada,  Hayti,  South 
America,  are  inviting  fields  abroad ;  whilst  the  Germans,  the 
Irish,  the  French  and  Canadians,  the  Spaniards  and  Mexicans, 
the  Italian,  and  the  Portuguese,  who  have  come  among  us,  are 
very  accessible  by  proper  efforts. 

We  are  fully  persuaded  that  the  times  demand  of  the  Amer- 
ican and  British  Protestants  the  most  vigorous  efforts,  not  only 
to  repel  the  invasions  which  Rome  would  make,  but  to  carry 
the  banners  of  the  Truth  into  her  own  domains,  and  even  to 
the  walls  of  the  "  City  on  seven  Hills." 

We  must  now  turn  to  the  work  outside  of  Christendom. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


MISSIONARY  EFFORTS   PREVIOUS  TO  THE  XIXTH 
CENTURY. 

To  obtain  a  correct  estimate  of  the  development  assumed  by 
the  enterprise  of  Christian  Missions  within  the  present  century, 
it  may  be  of  service  to  consider,  at  the  outset,  how  much  had 
been  accomphshed  in  previous  centuries,  since  the  Protestant 
Reformation.  We  shall  do  this  briefly,  that  we  may  give  the 
wider  space  to  a  review  of  the  period  more  immediately  under 
our  contemplation. 

To  Calvin,  the  Reformer  of  Geneva,  belongs  the  credit  of 
having  first  attempted,  in  the  Protestant  Churches,  to  excite 
interest  in  behalf  of  a  heathen  nation.  An  expedition  was  fitted 
out,  in  the  year  1555,  by  Villegagnon,  a  knight  of  Malta,  under 
the  patronage  of  Henry  H.  of  France,  with  the  view  to  establish 
a  French  colony  in  the  New  World.  The  approbation  of  the 
monarch  was  secured  through  the  medium  of  the  excellent 
Admiral  de  Coligny ;  whose  favor  Villegagnon  propitiated,  by 
the  secret  understanding  that  the  projected  colony  should  pro- 
tect the  Reformed  religion.  Accordingly,  Calvin  was  applied  to, 
in  order  to  obtain  ministers  to  embark  with  the  expedition. 
After  consultation  with  the  other  pastors  of  Geneva,  he  sent 
two, — Guillaume  Chartier,  and  Pierre  Richier, — who  were  after- 
wards joined  by  several  others.  Their  object  was,  at  once,  to 
labor  among  the  colonists  and  to  evangelize  the  heathen  abori- 
gines. The  expedition  reached  fort  Coligny,  as  it  was  named, 
on   the   Rio   de  Janeiro,  Brazil,  in   March,  1556.     On   their 


296  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

arrival,  the  Genevan  ministers  proceeded  to  constitute  a  church, 
according  to  the  forms  and  rites  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  and 
celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper.  But  Villegagnon  soon  betrayed 
his  true  character  and  disposition ;  and  after  cruelly  maltreating 
the  missionaries,  forced  them  to  re-embark  and  return  to  France.=* 

The  next  attempt  to  send  the  Gospel  to  heathen  countries, 
was  made  by  the  celebrated  Reformer  and  King  of  Sweden, 
Gustavus  Vasa.  About  the  year  1559,  a  missionary  was  sent 
by  that  monarch  into  Lapland,  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  them 
the  principles  of  Christianity.  The  natives  were  at  the  same 
time  commanded  to  congregate  at  a  certain  season  of  the  year, 
to  pay  their  tribute,  and  receive  religious  instruction  from  this 
missionary. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  lYth  century,  efforts  were  made  by 
the  Dutch  to  convert  to  Christianity  the  natives  of  the  island  of 
Ceylon,  which  they  had  taken  from  the  Portuguese.  One  of  the 
measures  which  they  adopted  for  this  end,  was  the  passage  of  a 
law  to  the  effect  that  none  could  inherit  property  or  obtain 
office,  who  had  not  been  baptized  and  registered.  The  conse- 
quence of  such  a  regulation  may  be  imagined;  in  1663,  the 
number  of  persons  professing  Christianity,  in  the  single  district 
of  JafFnapatam,  had  risen  to  about  sixty-three  thousand.  At 
the  present  day,  there  are  many  Cinghalese  who  call  themselves 
Christians,  but  are  in  reality  worshippers  of  Boodha.f 

In  1634  the  Dutch  also  obtained  possession  of  the  island  of 
Formosa ;  and  soon  after,  Robert  Junius  and  others  labored  there 
with  great  success  for  the  conversion  of  the  natives.  In  a  few 
years,  however,  the  Dutch  were  expelled  from  Formosa,  and 
Christianity  was  extirpated. 

It  was  towards  the  middle  of  this  century  that  the  Puritan 

*  De  Thou,  Hlstoire  Univcrselle,  Liv.  xvi.  torn.  ii.  p.  381 — i.  De 
Tliou  mentions  that  a  full  and  faithful  narrative  of  the  expedition,  with 
a  description  of  the  country,  was  pubhshed  by  Lery,  one  of  the  party. 

j-  Selkirk's  Recollections  of  Ceylon. 


AND    REGISTER.  297 

colonists  of  New  England  commenced  their  noble  labors  for  the 
propagation  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians.  In  1646,  the 
legislature  of  Massachusetts  passed  an  act  to  encourage  this  en- 
terprise ;  and  the  celebrated  Eliot  began  his  missionary  career 
at  Nonantum.  This  devoted  servant  of  God,  with  his  fellow- 
laborers  and  successors,  the  May  hews,  Bowen,  Cotton  and  others, 
achieved  a  great  and  thorough  work  in  the  field  of  their  exer- 
tions. In  1675,  there  had  been  formed  fourteen  settlements  of 
Christianized  Indians,  with  a  population  of  thirty-six  hundred 
souls.  Twenty-four  congregations  had  been  organized,  with  six 
constituted  churches,  and  twenty-four  Indian  preachers.* 

Two  missionary  societies  were  founded  in  the  course  of  the 
XVIIth  century.  The  "  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in 
New  England,"  was  incorporated  in  1649  ;  a  consequence  of  the 
interest  excited  by  the  labors  and  success  of  Eliot  and  his  asso- 
ciates. And  in  1698,  the  "  Society  for  Promoting  Christian 
Knowledge"  was  formed  by  members  of  the  Church  of  England. 

The  XVIIIth  century  witnessed,  at  its  very  dawn,  a  large  in- 
crease of  Christian  zeal  in  behalf  of  missions  among  the  heathen. 
In  1701,  the  "  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts,"  was  instituted  in  England.  Of  this  organization  we 
shall  speak  more  fully  in  the  next  chapter.  In  1705,  the  Danes 
undertook  a  mission  in  Southern  India  ;  and  in  1 708  another  in 
Greenland.  The  former  mission  was  located  in  Tranquebar,  on 
the  Coromandel  coast.  Two  Danish  missionaries,  with  several 
assistants,  labored  here  for  several  years,  and  with  considerable 
success.  In  1710,  they  came  under  the  patronage  of  the  Society 
for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge ;  by  whose  encouragement 
the  operations  of  the  mission  were  soon  extended  to  Madras  and 
Ceylon  ;  and  in  1775,  it  consisted  of  five  principal  branches,  the 
stations  of  which  were  occupied  by  thirteen  missionaries  and 
over  fifty  native  assistants.     The  schools  at  that  period  con- 

*  Teacy's  History  of  the  Am.  Board,  p.  14. 
17* 


298  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

tained  633  children  ;  and  in  the  space  of  a  single  year,  909  new 
members  were  added  to  the  difterent  churches.  The  labors  of 
the  Danish  and  Moravian  missionaries  in  Greenland,  are  too 
well-known  to  require  notice  here.  Their  persevering  and  self- 
denying  career,  like  that  of  the  venerable  Swartz  in  India,  form 
a  rich  portion  of  the  memoirs  of  Christian  heroism. 

The  "  Society  in  Scotland  for  Propagating  Christian  Knowl- 
edge," was  formed  at  Edinburgh  in  the  year  1709.  It  employed 
schoolmasters,  catechists,  and  missionaries,  and  distributed  the 
Scriptures  and  other  religious  books,  in  the  Highlands  of  Scot- 
land, the  neighboring  islands,  and  to  some  extent  in  North 
America.  It  was  under  the  care  of  this  association  and  its  com- 
mittee in  America,  that  several  laborers  were  supported  among 
the  American  Indians ;  and  in  particular  the  celebrated  Brain- 
erd.  But  the  earher  missions  among  this  interesting  people, 
though  successful  and  promising  at  the  outset,  were  doomed  to 
interruption  by  the  frequent  removal  and  dispersion  of  the 
tribes  among  whom  they  were  situated.  Yet  they  are  not  to 
be  regarded  as  failures.  "  Among  no  other  heathen  in  modern 
times  has  the  Gospel  had  such  early  and  decided  success.  No 
other  savages  have  so  readily  thrown  off  their  barbarism,  and 
become  civihzed  men.  And  of  all  the  tribes  which  once  inhab- 
ited the  older  parts  of  the  United  States,  scarce  a  fragment  can 
now  be  found,  but  such  as  Christian  missions  have  preserved."* 

The  first  missions  of  the  United  Brethren,  or  Moravians,  were 
undertaken  in  the  year  1*732.  Their  designation  was  to  the 
West  Indies  and  Greenland.  Of  the  history  and  present  extent 
of  the  operations  of  the  Moravian  Brethren,  we  shall  treat  under 
the  appropriate  head. 

It  was  towards  the  close  of  the  XVIIIth  century  that  several 
of  the  more  important  missionary  organizations  of  the  present 
day  were  founded.     In  1792,  the  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary 

*  Hist  of  the  Am.  Board,  p.  26. 


AND    REGISTER.  299 

Society  was  formed  in  England;  in  1795,  the  London  Mission- 
ary Society;  in  1796,  the  Edinburgh  Missionary  Society;  and 
in  1800,  the  Church  Missionary  Society.  These  associations 
engaged  extensively  in  the  work  of  missions  to  the  East  Indies, 
the  Islands  of  the  Pacific,  and  Africa.  But  the  time  had  not 
yet  arrived,  when  India,  Burmah,  China,  South  Africa,  and 
Turkey  were  to  be  thrown  open  to  the  efforts  of  the  Christian 
churches.  Hindrances  of  every  kind — from  heathen  rulers  or 
from  the  civilized  conquerors — were  raised  up  in  their  way.  It 
was  in  consequence  of  this,  that  so  much  of  the  eflSciency  of 
these  societies  was  expended,  in  their  first  years,  upon  small  and 
comparatively  unimportant  fields.  It  pleased  God  in  his  wise 
providence,  as  it  were,  to  obstruct  the  passage  of  the  stream  of 
benevolence  in  his  Church,  until  it  should  have  gathered  suffi- 
cient strength  to  sweep  with  wide  and  permanent  force  over  the 
more  distant  and  powerful  nations  of  the  heathen  world. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

SOCIETY  FOR  THE   PROPAGATION   OF  THE   GOSPEL   IN 
FOREIGN   PARTS. 

The  Gospel  Propagation  Society  is  not  the  oldest  of  existing 
institutions  in  Great  Britain,  whose  object  at  the  outset  was  the 
extension  of  the  Gospel  in  foreign  parts.  But  the  "  Society  for 
Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,"  organized  three  years  previous 
to  it,  relinquished,  about  twenty-five  years  ago,  the  missions 
which  it  had  established  in  Southern  India,  which  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  care  of  the  more  recent  Society ;  and  though  still 
extant,  confines  its  labors  to  the  publishing  and  circulating  of 
Bibles  and  other  religious  books.  The  receipts  of  that  institu- 
tion for  the  year  1849-50,  including  those  from  the  sale  of  its 
books,  amounted  to  £8(1,408. 

The  Gospel  Propagation  Society,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
was  founded  in  1701  :  and  was  chartered  by  William  III.,  as  a 
"  corporation  with  a  perpetual  succession."  The  object  of  its 
institution  was  "  the  receiving,  managing,  and  disposing  of  such 
funds  as  might  be  contributed  for  the  religious  instruction  of 
British  subjects  beyond  the  seas  ;  for  the  maintenance  of  clergy- 
men in  the  plantations,  colonies,  and  factories  of  Great  Britain, 
and  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  those  parts."  It  is  an 
interesting  fact,  that  the  celebrated  John  Wesley  was  a  mission- 
ary of  this  Society  ;  and  in  that  character  proceeded  to  America 
in  iVSo,  and  returned  to  England  in  1738. 

"  The  Society,"  says  its  last  annual  report,  "  has  now  been 
permitted  to  attain  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  year  of  its  la- 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 


301 


bors.  For  nearly  a  century  it  was  the  only  society  which  gave 
witness  to  the  missionary  character  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Latterly  that  privilege  has  been  shared  with  others.  Whatever 
has  been  effected  through  the  instrumentahty  of  the  Society  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  men,  must  be  humbly 
ascribed  to  his  undeserved  goodness."  The  progress  of  the  So- 
ciety will  be  best  seen  by  the  following  table  of  income  received 
and  missionaries  employed  at  successive  periods  : — 


1725     .     .     . 

Licome. 
.      £1,550       . 

Missionaries. 

.     .       31 

1115     .     .     . 

.        2,294      . 

.     .     .       86 

1825     .     .     . 

.       8,350     . 

.     .     103 

1835     .     .     . 

.     15,435     . 

.     .     200 

1849     .     .     . 

.     54,000=^^  . 

.     .     355 

During  the  last  year  the  Society  has  undertaken  several  new 
missions  :  two  in  Labrador,  one  in  the  island  of  Tristan  d'Acunha, 
and  another  in  British  Caffraria.  Its  other  missions  are  as  fol- 
lows :  In  the  Western  Hemisphere — In  Nova  Scotia,  Cape 
Breton,  and  Prince  Edward's  Island ;  in  New  Brunswick,  East 
and  West  Canada,  and  Newfoundland  ;  in  the  Bermudas,  Ja- 
maica, the  Bahamas,  Barbadoes,  Antigua,  and  Guiana.  In  the 
Eastern  Hemisphere,  the  missions  of  the  Society  are  in  India, 
Ceylon,  Australia,  New  South  Wales,  Van  Dieman's  Land,  and 
New  Zealand. 

The  total  number  of  missionaries  supported  by  the  Gospel 
Propagation  Society  is,  as  we  have  seen,  three  hundred  and 
fiftj'^-five,  all  of  whom  are  ordained  clergymen.  Their  labors, 
however,  are  in  many  localities  restricted  to  the  British  popula- 
tion in  the  colonies,  particularly  in  the  British  possessions  of 
North  America.  It  may,  therefore,  be  questioned  whether  the 
operations  of  this  Society  should  be  included  in  a  view  of  foreign 

*  This  amount  includes  only  general  donations  and  subscriptions: 
the  whole  income,  as  will  be  seen,  is  much  larger 


802  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

missions.  But  such  being  the  method  of  most  of  the  writers  on 
the  subject,  we  have  thought  best  to  conform  to  it  here. 

It  must  also  be  stated,  that  many  of  the  laborers  employed 
by  the  Gospel  Propagation  Society  at  the  present  day,  are  sadly 
deficient  in  the  true  missionary  spirit,  and  in  the  reception  of 
the  pure  doctrines  of  Christianity.  It  is  generally  understood, 
we  believe,  that  the  sympathies  of  the  High  Church  party  in  the 
English  Establishment,  are  with  this  institution,  while  the  more 
evangelical  portion  of  its  members  attach  themselves  to  tho 
Church  Missionary  Society.  It  is  painful  to  hear  such  com- 
plaints as  not  unfrequently  reach  us,  from  India  and  New 
Zealand  more  especially,  of  the  pernicious  influence  of  Tractarian 
tenets  preached  to  the  half-converted  natives  of  those  lands. 

The  receipts  of  the  Gospel  Propagation  Society,  for  the  year 
ending  May,  1850,  amounted  to  £91, 8*74  8s.  8d.,  or  1444,700. 
This  sum  includes  several  sources  of  revenue  not  mentioned  in 
the  comparative  view  giVen  above,  among  which  is  a  "  Queen's 
Letter,"  or  roj^l  circular,  requiring  collections  for  the  Society's 
missions  in  aU  ^he  churches  of  the  Establishment. 


CHAPTEE  XIY. 

ENGLISH  BAPTIST  MISSIONAKY  SOCIETY. 

The  circumstances  under  which  the  Baptist  denomination  in 
Great  Britain  entered  upon  the  work  of  carrying  the  Gospel  to 
the  heathen,  are  briefly  as  follows.  On  the  2d  of  October,  1792, 
a  yearly  meeting  of  the  Baptist  ministers,  in  the  county  of 
Northampton,  was  held  at  Kettering.  After  public  worship,  the 
members  met  separately  for  the  purpose  of  taking  into  conside- 
ration the  moral  condition  of  the  world,  and  deciding  their  own 
personal  obligations  in  reference  to  it.  It  was  their  solemn  and 
unanimous  resolution  "  to  act  together  in  society  for  the  purpose 
of  propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  heathen."  They  further 
resolved,  that,  "  as  in  the  present  divided  state  of  Christendom, 
it  seems  that  each  denomination,  by  exerting  itself  separately,  is 
most  likely  to  accomphsh  the  great  ends  of  a  mission,  it  is 
agreed  that  this  Society  be  called.  The  particular  Baptist  Society 
for  propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  heathen."  This  title  is 
still  retained,  but  the  institution  is  more  generally  known  by  the 
designation  of  "  The  Baptist  Missionary  Society."  The  term 
'■''particular'''  is  simply  a  doctrinal  distinction,  applied  to  those 
who  receive  the  dogma  of  election  ;  general  redemption  being 
the  theory  of  those  who  are  denominated  General  Baptists. 

The  committee  originally  appointed,  was  composed  of  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  John  Ryland,  Reynold  Hogg,  William  Carey,  Johu 
SutcHff,  and  Andrew  Fuller ;  Reynold  Hogg  being  appointed 
treasurer,  and  Andrew  Fuller,  secretary. 


304  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

The  first  publication  of  the  Society  commences  with  the 
following  words,  written  by  Mr.  Fuller.  "  The  origin  of  the 
Society  will  be  found  in  the  workings  of  our  brother  Carey's 
mind,  which,  for  the  last  nine  or  ten  years,  has  been  directed  to 
this  object  with  little  intermission.  His  heart  seems  to  have 
been  set  upon  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  before  he  came  to 
reside  at  Moulton,  in  IVSG."  William  Carey  was,  at  this  period, 
the  pastor  of  a  small  village  church  at  Moulton.  Having  been 
at  first  a  journeyman  shoemaker,  and  then  a  village  schoolmaster, 
he  had  improved  his  leisure  moments  under  the  pressure  of 
poverty  in  acquiring  several  modern  languages.  But  since  his 
settlement  at  Moulton,  in  the  25th  year  of  his  age,  his  attention 
had  been  more  and  more  drawn  to  the  claims  of  the  heathen ; 
which  he  was  not  slow  in  enforcing  upon  his  brethren.  At  first 
he  had  been  opposed  with  all  those  objections  w^iich  are  so 
readily  adduced  against  every  foreign  missionary  enterprise  at 
its  commencement :  the  amount  of  destitution  at  home,  the 
obstacles  to  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  abroad,  and  the 
proj^hecies  of  Scripture  which  many  interpreted  as  foretelling  the 
present  unpropitious  condition  of  the  heathen  world.  But 
Carey  was  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season,  and  though  he 
was  considered  by  some  at  that  period  importunate  in  his 
urgency,  the  churches  soon  came  up  in  some  degree  to  the 
measure  of  zeal  which  actuated  him. 

Mr.  Thomas,  formerly  a  surgeon  in  Bengal,  and  who  had 
returned  to  England  with  the  view  to  awaken  interest  in  the 
establishment  of  a  mission  in  that  country,  was  appointed  in 
connection  with  Mr.  Carey  to  proceed  to  India ;  and  on  the  13  th 
of  June,  1793,  these  brethren  embarked  in  a  Danish  vessel  for 
Calcutta. 

The  first  station  occupied  permanently  by  these  missionaries 
in  India  was  Serampore,  which  has  ever  since  been  retained  by 
the  Society,  as  a  missionary  post.  Mr.  Carey,  after  sojourning  at 
several  localities,  arrived  at  Serampore  on  the  10th  of  January, 


AND    REGISTER.  305 

1800.  Reinforcements  soon  after  reached  the  mission,  and  the 
various  branches  of  the  enterprise  were  prosecuted  with  vigor. 
These  departments  were  the  Bengalese  school,  the  printing  and 
circulating  of  the  Scriptures  and  Tracts,  and  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel.  On  the  2 2d  of  December,  four  native  converts 
came  forward  as  candidates  for  church-membership.  Among 
these  was  Krishno,  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  early  converts. 
In  the  subsequent  year,  the  printing  of  the  Bengalee  Testament 
was  concluded. 

A  mission  undertaken  in  1*795  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Society  at  Sierra  Leone,  on  the  Western  coast  of  Africa,  had  a 
less  fortunate  result.  The  health  of  one  of  the  missionaries 
sent  out  to  that  colony  became  so  poor,  as  to  oblige  him  to 
return  to  Europe  soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  enterprise ; 
and  the  misconduct  of  the  other  compelled  him  to  return  hke- 
wise,  when  the  Society  dismissed  him  from  its  employ. 

Calcutta,  Agra,  Cutwa,  and  other  stations  in  India  were  suc- 
cessively occupied  by  the  missionaries  of  the  Society.  In  1827, 
certain  difficulties  between  the  parent  institution  and  the  Seram- 
pore  mission  resulted  in  a  separation,  and  for  several  years  that 
mission  remained  independent,  sustaining  itself  by  means  of 
funds  which  had  accumulated  there.  A  reunion  was  effected  in 
the  year  1837.  Without  entering  further  into  the  detail  of  the 
Society's  operations  in  India,  we  refer  the  reader  for  an  interest- 
ing account  of  them  to  Dr.  F.  A.  Cox's  valuable  history  of  the 
Baptist  Missions. 

The  Baptist  Mission  in  Jamaica  was  undertaken  in  the  year 
1813.  Previous  to  this  there  had,  however,  been  a  private 
effort  made  by  Mr.  Liele,  a  colored  man  from  the  United  States ; 
who  had  labored  with  much  encouragement  among  the  native 
negroes,  until  compelled  to  desist  from  any  further  endeavors  by 
the  opposition  of  the  colonial  government  of  Kingston.  Mr. 
John  Rowe  was  the  first  English  missionary  sent  to  the  island, 
where  he  arrived  in  February,  1814,  and  labored  with  great 


306  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

efficiency  during  the  short  period  to  which  his  career  was 
hmited — scarcely  more  tlian  two  years.  His  place  was  soon 
filled  by  other  missionaries  sent  from  Great  Britain,  under 
whose  care  a  number  of  flourishing  stations  were  established, 
and  chapels  erected  where  the  Gospel  was  regularly  taught  to 
the  crowds  of  natives  who  assembled  both  on  the  Sabbath  and 
on  week-days.  At  the  same  time  efforts  were  made  for  the 
religious  instruction  of  the  inhabitants  both  Indians  and  Negroes 
of  the  British  settlement  of  Belize  on  the  coast  of  Honduras, 
whither  missionaries  were  sent  in  1822. 

At  the  time  of  the  negro  insurrection  at  Jamaica,  in  1831, 
there  existed  in  that  island  under  the  charge  of  the  Baptist 
Missionary  Society,  twenty-four  churches  having  fourteen  pastors, 
and  containing  nearly  eleven  thousand  membere.  Unfortunately, 
the  missionaries  of  the  Society  became  implicated  in  that  in- 
surrection, and  although  the  trial  to  which  they  were  subjected 
terminated  in  their  acquittal  from  the  charges  preferred  against 
them,  the  mission  was  to  a  great  extent  broken  up,  and  Messrs. 
Knibb,  and  Burchell,  returned  to  England.  They  resumed  their 
work,  however,  after  laboring  at  home  to  interest  the  churches 
in  it,  in  the  autumn  of  1834.  New  churches  were  gathered  ; 
and  in  1837,  the  number  of  members  amounted  to  nearly  nine- 
teen thousand.* 

Respecting  the  present  condition  of  the  operations  of  the 
Baptist  Missionary  Society,  the  following  statements  are  furnished 
by  its  last  annual  report  (1850). 

The  missionaries  sustained  by  the  Society  labor  in  Asia,  on 
the  Western  coast  of  Africa,  in  France,  and  in  the  islands  of  the 
"Western  Sea.  At  about  one  hundred  and  ninety-four  stations 
and  sub-stations,  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is  regularly  preached 
to  many  thousands  by  the  missionary  brethren  from  week  to 
week,  while  their  itinerant  labors  extend  to  many  hundreds  of 

*  Cox's  History  of  the  Baptist  Mission,  passim. 


AND    REGISTER.  307 

villages  and  towns,  and  the  message  of  God  is  daily  proclaimed 
to  thousands  more  at  fairs  and  at  markets,  by  the  road-side  and 
at  the  nightly  resting  places. 

The  service  of  Christ  is  carried  on  in  this  extensive  field  by 
fifty-four  missionaries  with  their  wives,  and  nine  females  engaged 
in  the  special  department  of  education.  It  has  been,  however, 
one  of  the  blessed  results  of  their  toil,  that  from  the  midst  of  the 
converts  there  have  been  raised  up  by  the  grace  of  God,  not  less 
than  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  natives  ot  the  different  lands 
where  the  Gospel  has  been  proclaimed  by  the  brethren,  to  aid 
them  in  the  further  extension  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom. 
The  total  number  of  laborers  supported  by  the  Society  in  foreign 
lands,  therefore,  including  missionaries,  catechists,  preachers 
and  assistant  teachers,  is  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight. 
These  laborers  are  located  as  follows  : — In  India,  36  missionaries, 
72  preachers  and  catechists,  19  teachers  ;  in  the  Asiatic  Islands, 
5  missionaries  and  14  preachers,  &c. ;  in  the  West  Indies  and 
Central  America,  7  missionaries,  23  preachers,  &c.,  183  assistant 
teachers  ;  in  Africa,  5  missionaries,  9  preachers,  &c.,  1  teacher ; 
in  France,  1  missionary,  and  3  preachers  and  catechists.  This 
however  is  not  the  whole  of  the  means  that  have  been  brought 
into  operation  ;  about  two  hundred  other  Christian  brethren 
gratuitously  devote  more  or  less  of  their  time  to  making  known 
the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  To  these  must  be  added 
thirty  or  more  schoolmasters,  in  order  to  embrace  in  a  brief 
view  the  whole  of  the  Christian  agency  employed  or  set  in 
motion  by  the  Society. 

There  are  at  present  in  fellowship  in  India  and  Ceylon,  IjOYl 
persons;  in  Africa  and  the  West  Indies,  3,037  ;  making  in  all 
more  than  five  thousand  professed  disciples  of  Christ,  and  about 
three  hundred  and  eighty  seeking  admission  into  the  fold. 
This  does  not  include  the  members  of  churches  in  Jamaica, 
which  have  become  independent  of  the  Society.  The  clear  in- 
srease  during  the  last  year  was  one  hundred  and  ninety.     The 


308  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

most  flourishing  of  the  mission  churches  are  to  be  found  in  Bengal 
and  the  Bahama  islands.  In  these  places  the  largest  additions' 
have  been  made,  and  the  prospects  are  most  promising  and  hope- 
ful.    The  number  of  mission  churches  is  one  hundred  and  eight. 

At  nearly  all  the  stations  of  the  Society,  day  and  Sunday- 
schools  are  established.  The  returns  of  these  schools  are  not 
sufficiently  precise  to  enable  us  to  specify  their  exact  number,  or 
to  give  the  sum  total  of  the  children  attending  them  ;  but,  as  hv 
as  the  accounts  have  been  supplied,  there  are  at  the  various  sta- 
tions of  the  Society  one  hundred  and  five  day  schools,  in  which 
are  taught  four  thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy-six  children  ; 
and  fifty-eight  Sunday  schools,  with  two  thousand  six  hundred 
and  eighty  children.  Many  schools  are  supported  by  Sun- 
day-school scholars  at  home  ;  those  in  the  West  Indies  in  great 
part  by  grants  liberally  bestowed  by  the  Society  of  Friends,  and 
many  more,  especially  in  India,  by  contributions  on  the  spot. 

In  addition  to  these  educational  instrumentalities,  the  Society 
has  hitherto  engaged  to  some  extent  in  the  training  of  young 
natives  for  the  ministry.  The  College  at  Montreal,  formerly 
under  its  care,  has,  however,  been  closed.  At  Calabar,  Jamaica, 
one  young  man  has  completed  his  studies,  and  has  been  settled 
as  pastor  of  the  church  at  Moneague.  Several  other  young  men, 
negroes  by  birth,  are  preparing  for  the  ministry  at  the  same  place. 

The  subject  of  Bible  translation  has  always  engaged  much  of 
the  attention  of  the  Society.  The  number  of  versions  in  which  the 
Scriptures  were  printed  by  its  missionaries,  from  1801  to  1850, 
was  forty-four.  The  total  number  of  copies  printed  was  961,622. 
During  the  last  year  no  new  language  was  undertaken,  although 
much  progress  was  made  in  several  versions.  In  the  Hindi,  for 
the  use  of  the  population  on  the  Ganges,  between  Monghir  and 
Benares,  4,500  copies  of  the  Gospels  and  Acts  have  been  printed  ; 
in  Hindustani,  Persian,  and  Bengali,  62,500  ;  and  in  Sanscrit, 
7,500.  The  total  number  of  copies  printed  during  the  last  year 
was,  therefore,  '74,500 ;  the  number  distributed  about  35,000. 


AND    REGISTER.  309 

Translations  are  also  in  course  of  preparation  in  the  Isubu  and 
Dualla,  for  Western  Africa,  the  Maya  for  Central  America,  and 
the  Breton  in  France. 

Although  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  various  fields  of 
the  Society's  labors  present  so  many  encouragements,  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  the  strength  of  the  institution  at  home  is  not  pro- 
portionately increasing.  "In  no  case  are  the  laborers  equal 
to  the  toil  demanded  of  them.  Western  Africa  has  lost  one 
after  another  of  its  most  energetic  evangelists.  They  are  re- 
duced to  the  lowest  possible  number  to  hold  the  ground  that 
had  been  occupied.  In  Ceylon,  where  three  missionaries  were 
not  enough  for  the  service  of  thirty-five  stations,  and  the  over- 
sight of  four  hundred  and  fifty  members  of  churches,  one  only 
is  left, — and,  must  we  not  say,  to  sink  under  the  accumulated 
responsibility  and  toil?  In  India,  with  one  or  two  exceptions, 
every  station  needs  additional  aid.  Some  places  have  already 
been  abandoned  for  want  of  it.  Large  tracts  of  country  are  un- 
occupied where  it  would  appear  the  fields  are  white  unto  the 
harvest.  Many  of  our  brethren  are  aged.  Should  they  be 
taken  to  their  rest,  as  in  the  course  of  nature  they  must  speedily 
be,  the  Committee  are  unable  to  supply  their  places.  And  oth 
ers  are  overwhelmed  with  care  and  anxiety,  induced  by  the 
scarcity  of  help."* 

The  total  receipts  of  the  English  Missionary  Society,  for  the 
year  1849-50,  including  donations  for  general  and  special  pur- 
poses, amounted  to  £19,7Y6  135.  Ic/.,  or  $95,719.1 

General  JBajjtist  Missionary  Society. — As  already  mentioned, 
the  designation  adopted  by  this  Society  indicates  the  doctrinal 
peculiarities  of  its  supporters.  It  was  not  until  several  years 
after  the  establishment  of  the  institution  above  described  that 

*  Report  for  1850. 

f  The  computations  of  Enghsh  into  American  coin,  throughout  this 
work,  are  made  at  the  real  value  of  $4  84  to  the  pound  sterling,  not 
at  the  nominal  value  of  $4  44. 


310  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

the  smaller  denomination  of  the  General  Baptists  entered  upon 
the  work  of  foreign  missions;  and  in  ISIG,  at  the  association 
of  its  ministers,  held  at  Boston,  it  was  resolved,  after  much  dis- 
cussion, that  a  society  for  the  prosecution  of  this  object  should 
be  formed.  The  first  missionaries  appointed,  Messrs.  Bampton 
and  Peggs,  reached  Serampore  in  1821,  and  after  much  delib- 
eration and  prayer,  decided  upon  the  province  of  Orissa  as  the 
scene  of  their  future  labors.  In  1825,  the  Kev.  Mr.  Sutton  ar- 
rived, a  missionary  of  much  activity  and  zeal,  whose  visits  to 
the  United  States  have  greatly  contributed  to  awaken  a  mis- 
sionary spirit  in  the  churches  of  his  own  denomination  here. 
Since  that  period  a  number  of  laborers  have  been  sent  out  to 
India  by  this  Society.  The  stations  occupied  are  Khundita, 
Coga,  Cuttack,  Pooree,  Ganjara,  and  Burrampore.  At  Cut- 
tack,  there  is  a  native  church  with  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
members,  with  two  schools  containing  one  hundred  and  six 
scholars.  The  mission  press  has  issued  1,516,000  pages  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  2,050,000  pages  of  tracts,  and  other  books.  This 
mission  is  occupied  by  six  ordained  missionaries,  one  printer, 
and  nine  native  preachers. 

The  Society  has  also  established  a  mission  in  China,  at  Can- 
ton, where  Messrs.  Hudson  and  Jarrom  were  stationed  in  1845. 

The  receipts  of  the  General  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  for 
the  year  1849-50,  amounted  to  £1,887   8s.  4c?.,  or  $9,135. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

LONDON    MISSIONARY  SOCIETY. 

The  London  Missionary/  Society  was  formed  with  the  design 
of  uniting  Christians  of  all  evangeUcal  denominations  in  one 
great  enterprise  for  the  diffusion  of  religious  truth  among 
heathen  nations.  An  appeal  made  by  the  Rev.  David  Bogue, 
in  1*794,  was  the  immediate  occasion  of  its  formation.  In  the 
month  of  September  of  the  following  year,  a  succession  of  pub- 
he  meetings  was  held  in  London,  the  result  of  which  was  the 
organization  of  the  Society,  and  the  election  of  thirty-two  di- 
rectors. 

The  resolution  adopted  by  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
from  its  very  commencement,  to  secure  agreement  and  harmony 
in  all  its  operations,  deserves  special  mention  as  an  evidence  of 
the  catholicity  of  its  founders.  It  was  framed  by  the  late  Dr. 
Waugh,  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  useful  of  the  Society's  di- 
rectors. "  As  the  union  of  God's  people  of  various  denomina- 
tions, in  carrying  on  this  great  work,  is  a  most  desirable  object, 
so  to  prevent,  if  possible,  any  cause  of  future  dissension,  it  is  de- 
clared to  be  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  that  our  design  is  not  to  send  Presbyterianism,  Inde- 
pendency, Episcopacy,  or  any  other  form  of  church  order  and 
government  (about  which  there  may  be  a  difference  of  opinion 
among  serious  persons),  but  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the  blessed 
God  to  the  heathen ;  and  it  shall  be  left  (as  it  ought  to  be  left) 
to  the  minds  of  the  persons  whom  God  shall  call  into  the  fel- 
lowship of  his  Son  from  among  them,  to  assume  for  themselves 


312  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

such  form  of  clnircli  government  as  to  them  shall  appear  most 
agreeable  to  the  word  of  God."* 

The  first  mission  of  the  Society  had  been  determined  upon 
previous  to  the  dissolution  of  its  first  general  meeting ;  and  it 
was  resolved  to  direct  its  efforts  to  the  islands  of  Polynesia,  at 
that  time  newly  discovered.  Subscriptions  to  a  considerable 
amount  were  accordingly  raised,  and  a  number  of  persons  who 
had  expressed  their  willingness  to  devote  themselves  to  the  work 
of  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen,  were  examined  by  a 
committee  appointed  for  that  purpose.  At  length,  on  the  lOtli 
of  August,  1796,  there  embarked  in  the  Duff,  a  vessel  purchased 
by  the  Society,  thirty  missionaries,  with  their  wives  and  children, 
under  the  care  of  Captain  Wilson,  a  retired  seaman,  who  volun- 
tarily undertook  the  command  of  the  vessel. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  missionaries  at  Tahiti,  one  of  the 
Georgian  Islands,  an  interview  was  obtained  with  the  king,  and 
the  object  of  their  visit  was  represented  to  him  by  means  of  an 
interpreter.  The  entire  district  of  Matavai  was  ceded  to  them, 
and  they  prepared  to  commence  their  labors  in  the  island.  Dis- 
couragements, however,  soon  fell  upon  the  work,  and,  after  a 
few  years  of  great  insecurity,  a  rebellion  broke  out  which  com- 
pelled the  missionaries  to  leave  Tahiti,  whence  some  repaired  to 
Eimeo,  and  others  to  Huahine,  both  lying  a  short  distance 
westward  of  Tahiti.  The  new  king,  who  bore  the  name  of 
Pomare,  had  been  likewise  obliged  to  escape  to  Eimeo,  where 
he  first  renounced  idolatry,  and  embraced  the  Gospel.  Upon 
his  restoration  to  the  sovereignty  of  his  island,  which  occurred 
soon  after,  he  became  the  steady  friend  and  protector  of  the 
missionaries.  Until  their  arrival  he  himself  exerted  all  his  in- 
fluence in  persuading  his  people  to  abandon  the  degrading  su- 
perstitions of  their  fathers,  and  his  labors  were  not  in  vain.  In 
1819,  a  vast  chapel  was  erected,  where  the  Gospel   might  be 

*■  Memoirs  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Wauwh,     New  York  :  R.  Carter. 


AND    REGISTER.  313 

preaclied  ^multaneously  by  three  ministers  to  several  thousand 
hearers ;  and  the  zeal  of  the  converts,  which  had  ah-eady  given 
rise  to  a  "  Tahitian  Auxihary  Missionary  Society,"  inclined  them 
to  use  all  instrumentalities  to  spread  the  same  benefits  they  had 
received,  to  the  unenlightened  about  them. 

Such  was  the  early  history  of  the  Tahitian  mission,  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  remarkable  in  the  annals  of  Christianity. 
The  progress  of  religion  in  these  islands  continued  uninterrupted 
until  the  aggressions  of  the  French  government,  by  whom  every 
effort  has  been  made  to  hinder  and  counteract  the  labors  of  the 
English  missionaries.  Of  the  opposition  at  present  encountered, 
the  report  of  the  Society  for  the  last  year  speaks  as  follows : 
"The  directors  very  deeply  regret  that  their  missionaries  in 
Tahiti,  contrary  to  former  hopes,  have  suffered  considerable  ob- 
struction and  embarrassment  in  their  labors,  from  the  interference 
of  the  French  Governor,  Captain  Lavaud.  He  has  employed 
his  authority  to  prevent  the  people  from  repairing  the  Missionary 
buildings,  unless  his  permission  were  first  obtained ;  and  he  has 
employed  his  influence,  also,  to  prevent  them  from  making  their 
accustomed  contributions  for  the  diffusion  of  the  Gospel  in  the 
yet  unenlightened  islands  of  the  Pacific.  When  certain  of  the 
stations  and  districts  have  become  vacant,  he  has  not  allowed 
our  Missionaries  to  remove  thither,  unless  his  permission  were 
previously  granted.  And  from  one  particular  locality,  where 
two  Catholic  priests  were  endeavoring  to  instil  their  principles 
into  the  minds  of  the  young,  our  brethren  were  strictly  pro- 
hibited, lest,  as  the  Governor  pleaded,  there  should  be  any  con- 
troversy about  religion."  It  is,  however,  gratifying  to  find, 
notwithstanding  these  adverse  circumstances,  that  the  Tahitian 
churches  are  receiving  numerous  accessions,  and  exhibiting  much 
improvement  in  Christian  character.  The  total  number  of 
church-members  at  present  in  connection  with  this  mission,  is 
about  six  hundred ;  the  number  of  children  in  the  schools,  one 
thousand.     In  Eimeo  there  are  two  hundred  and  five  communi- 

1 


314  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

cants,  with  a  considerable  number  of  children  in  the  schools. 
At  Iluahine,  Raiatea,  Tahaa,  and  liorabora,  in  the  Society 
group,  the  number  of  cliurch-members  is  between  six  and  seven 
hundred,  and  of  scholars,  about  six  hundred. 

The  other  missions  of  the  Society  in  the  South  Seas  have 
been  located  among-  the  Ilervey,  Sanioan,  and  New  Hebrides 
groups.  With  the  former  of  these  is  associated  the  hallowed 
memory  of  Williams,  "  the  martyr  of  Erromanga,"  whose  un- 
wearied exertions  for  the  diffusion  of  Christianity  among  those 
islands,  laid  the  foundation  of  its  present  success.  In  the  Her- 
vey  Islands,  there  are  about  one  thousand  communicants  in  the 
mission  churches ;  in  the  Samoan  Islands,  the  war  that  broke 
out  in  1847,  has  greatly  impeded  the  prosperity  of  the  churches ; 
there  are,  however,  upwards  of  a  thousand  church  members 
at  the  various  stations. 

In  the  year  1806,  the  London  Missionary  Society  determined 
to  commence  a  mission  to  China.  The  hostility  of  the  Chinese 
Government,  however,  being  a  great  impediment  to  Missionary 
operations,  the  object  at  which  the  founders  of  the  Protestant 
Mission  to  China  aimed,  was  the  preparation  of  works  that 
should  facilitate  the  future  cultivation  of  Chinese  philology  by 
Europeans,  and  secure  a  standard  of  appeal  on  theology  for 
Chinese  in  their  own  language.  In  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1807,  the  Rev.  Robert  Morrison  sailed  from  England  for  China, 
with  a  particular  view  to  the  translation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
into  the  Chinese  language ;  in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  which, 
he  had  to  make  it  as  much  a  matter  of  secrecy  as  if  he  had  been 
plotting  the  overthrow  of  the  Government  of  the  empire,  and 
the  persons  who  assisted  him  trembled  for  their  own  safety. 
Soon  after  his  arrival  in  China,  Mr.  Morrison  was  appointed 
Chinese  Interpreter  to  the  East  India  Company ;  which  office 
secured  at  the  same  time  his  residence  at  Macao,  and  contribu- 
ted to  his  acquisition  of  the  language. 

The  printing  qf  the  New  Testament  ?n  the  Chinese  language 


AND    REGISTER.  315 

was  completed  in  Januaiy,  1814.  The  four  Gospels,  the  closing 
Epistles  and  the  Book  of  Revelations,  were  translated  by  Mr. 
Morrison  ;  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul 
were  copied  for  the  most  part  from  a  Chinese  manuscript  in  the 
British  Museum,  with  such  alterations  as  Mr.  Morrison  judged 
advisable.  The  next  five  years  were  employed  by  him  in 
translating  the  Old  Testament,  which  was  printed  in  1823,  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  granting  £6,000  towards  the 
expense.  Thus  there  have  been  published  in  the  Chinese  lan- 
guage, a  Dictionary,  a  Grammar  and  other  minor  works,  to 
assist  Europeans  in  acquiring  it ;  and  above  all  the  Scriptures 
have  been  translated,  printed,  and  published  in  a  language 
spoken  by  four  hundred  millions  of  the  human  race,  in  addition 
to  numerous  excellent  tracts,  chiefly  on  theology. 

After  a  long  season  of  diligent  preparation  and  patient  wait- 
ing, China  has  at  length  been  opened  to  the  Christian  Missionary. 
Dr.  Morrison  was  prevented  from  preaching  publicly,  either 
in  Canton  or  Macao,  by  the  jealousy  entertained  by  the  govern- 
ment against  foreigners,  and  especially  against  foreign  religions. 
But  toleration  was  extended,  early  in  the  year  1845,  to  all  pro- 
fessing the  Christian  religion  throughout  the  empire.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  long-hoped-for  but  almost  unexpected  boon,  the 
Chinese  missions  have  received  a  great  extension  ;  new  laborers 
have  been  sent  from  Europe  to  assist  in  preaching  the  Gospel  to 
this  interesting  people,  and  the  minds  of  Christians  at  home  are 
awakening  to  their  claims  upon  their  Christian  benevolence. 

The  missions  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  in  China  are 
located  at  Hong-Kong,  Canton,  Shanghai  and  Araoy.  At 
Hong-Kong,  where  are  stationed  an  ordained  missionary  and  a 
physician,  there  have  been  two  chapels  opened,  at  each  of  which 
the  average  attendance  is  about  one  hundred  persons.  A  native 
preacher  Tsun-Sheen  preaches  in  one  of  the  chapels  and 
teaches  a  flourishing  Bible-chiss.  There  is,  likewise,  a  school  for 
boys,  at  which  thirty-eight  scholars  are  now  regularly  taught. 


316  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

There  have  been  six  members  added  to  the  church  at  this  place, 
during  the  past  year.  There  is  also  here  a  Theological  Semi- 
nary, as  yet,  however,  but  feeble.  At  Canton  are  stationed 
three  missionaries.  At  Shanghai  there  are  four  missionaries, 
together  with  a  physician  and  a  superintendent  of  the  Press. 
There  is  a  Mission  Chapel  in  the  city ;  and  the  missionaries 
labors  extend  to  the  surrounding  villages.  The  press  which  is 
here,  is  in  active  operation,  and  during  the  past  year  (1849-50) 
issued  twenty  thousand  tracts.  At  Amoy  there  are  residing 
three  missionaries  and  a  physician,  assisted  by  Tan  Li-ch'un, 
a  native  colporteur.  At  each  of  these  stations  there  is  an 
hospital,  where  not  only  are  the  efforts  of  the  physicians  exerted 
in  behalf  of  the  sick,  but  the  Gospel  is  regularly  preached  to 
them.  At  Hong-Kong  there  about  forty  or  fifty  patients  in 
regular  attendance  ;  and  nine  hundred  have  sought  relief  since 
the  opening  of  the  establishment.  At  Canton  the  usual  attend- 
ance is  about  two  hundred.  At  Shanghai  five  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  patients  were  admitted  during  the  past  year. 

The  London  Missionary  Society  commenced  its  operations  in 
the  East  Indies  in  1798,  by  the  appointment  of  Rev.  Mr.  For- 
syth to  undertake  a  mission  at  Calcutta.  Subsequently  and 
in  succession  were  commenced  the  stations  of  Berhampore,  of 
Benares,  of  Surat,  and  of  Madras.  Finally,  in  1817,  the  Society 
extended  its  operations  to  Travancore,  the  southern  extremity 
of  India,  where  they  first  established  a  permanent  mission. 
The  principal  stations  of  the  Society  in  Northern  India,  are  lo- 
cated at  Calcutta,  Berhampore,  Benares,  Mirzapore,  and  Guze- 
rat;  in  Peninsular  India,  at  Madras,  Vizagapatam,  Chicacole, 
Cuddapah,  Belgaum,  Bellary,  Bengalore,  Mysore,  Salem,  Com- 
baconum,  and  Coimbatoor  ;  and  in  South  Travancore,  atNager- 
coil,  Neyoor,  Quilon  and  Trevandrum.  Churches  and  schools 
have  been  established  at  each  of  these  stations,  but  the  returns 
given  in  the  reports  of  the  Society,  are  too  incomplete  to  enable 
us  to  obtain  their  statistics.     There  are  fifty-one  missionaries 


AND    REGISTER.  317 

now  laboring  in  this  field  under  the  patronage  of  the  Society, 
including  twc  native  and  three  or  four  assistant  missionaries. 

"  The  actual  increase  of  our  mission  churches,"  says  the  last 
report,  "  during  the  year  has  been,  especially  in  Southern  India, 
unusually  encouraging,  demanding  pecuhar  thankfulness  to  God, 
■who  has  vouchsafed  His  Spirit  to  the  labors  of  his  servants. 
Among  the  converts  received  into  Christian  fellowship,  there 
are  many  striking  illustrations  of  the  power  and  grace  of  the 
Redeemer." 

One  of  the  most  formidable  barriers  to  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity in  India,  has  been  the  operation  of  the  Hindoo  law,  in- 
volving the  forfeiture  of  property  by  every  native  who  renounces 
Caste  and  embraces  the  Gospel.  It  will,  therefore,  be  learned 
with  great  pleasure,  by  all  Christians,  that  the  Government  of 
Calcutta  have  determined  upon  repealing  every  law  or  usage 
which  inflicts  forfeiture  of  rights  or  property  on  any  person,  by 
reason  of  his  renouncing,  or  being  excluded  from,  the  commu- 
nion of  any  rehgion. 

Encouraged  by  the  success  which  had  attended  its  missions 
to  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  the  Society  commenced  an  African 
mission,  in  the  same  year  with  that  in  India.  Dr.  Vanderkemp 
and  Messrs.  Kircherer,  Edmonds,  and  Edwards,  were  accord- 
ingly sent  out  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  where  they  sepa- 
rated, and  whilst  two  of  them  repaired  to  CafFraria,  the  others 
commenced  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  Bushmen.  In  1812, 
Mr.  Thorne  was  settled  as  a  missionary  at  Cape  Town,  and  was 
succeeded  in  1818  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Philip,  who  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  Society's  operations  in  Africa.  This  mis- 
sion now  comprises  thirty-one  stations  within  and  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  colony,  and  is  carried  on  by  thirty-four  ordained 
missionaries  and  five  lay  assistants.  During  the  last  year,  the 
Rev.  J.  J.  Freeman  has  continued  his  missionary  visitation  of 
the  Society's  stations  in  South  Africa,  the  state  and  prospects 
of  which  are  thus  described  by  him  : — "  The  Society  has  been 


318  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

honored  to  accomplish  a  great  work  in  Africa.  There  is  revision 
and  supervision  wanted,  most  certainly  ;  but  as  a  whole,  I  ara 
convinced  that,  if  our  Directors  could  personally  inspect  all  that 
I  have  seen,  they  would  say  not  half  had  been  told  them  ;  they 
would  enter  on  their  work  with  a  vastly  augmented  amount  of 
delight,  confidence,  and  gratitude;  they  would  see  that  the 
hand  of  God  has  been  with  their  missions,  and  that  they  have 
but  to  continue  steadfast  and  unmovable,  abounding  in  work 
and  faith,  and  the  result  is  certain.  The  great  ends  of  our  la- 
bor are  being  gained  ;  the  people,  taken  as  a  whole,  are  indus- 
trious ;  multitudes  of  them  are  highly  improved,  sober,  moral, 
and  correct  in  all  their  deportment ;  very  many  are  truly  pious, 
and  walk  in  all  godliness  as  well  as  honesty.  I  have  been  much 
delighted  with  the  spirit  and  character  of  many :  they  adorn 
their  profession,  and  are  blessings  in  the  midst  of  their  commu- 
nities. Besides  the  various  mission  churches  within  the  Colony, 
containing  an  aggregate  of  upwards  of  two  thousand  commu- 
nicants, we  have  one  thousand  eight  hundred  members  in 
church-fellowship  on  this  north  side  of  the  Orange  River,  that 
is,  among  the  native  tribes  lying  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the 
Colonial  Government,  Bechuanas,  Griquas,  and  Corannas.  I 
exclude  Catfreland,  as  that  is  now  more  properly  within  the 
Colony  called  British  Caffraria,  and  is  altogether  distinct  from 
these  missions.  Their  auxiliaries  raise  about  £500  per  annum, 
which  is  one  fifth  of  the  expense  they  incur ;  and  thus  it  will  be 
seen  that  even  these  missions,  which  embrace  so  largely  the 
poor  of  Africa,  raise  their  proportion  equally  with  others." 

In  the  island  of  Madagascar,  a  mission  was  undertaken  in 
1818,  by  Messrs.  Bevan  and  Jones.  It  was  interrupted  for 
some  years  by  the  death  of  these  missionaries,  but  was  resumed 
in  1822  by  Mr.  Jeffreys.  Such  was  the  success  of  this  mission, 
that  in  1828  there  were  ninety-three  schools  and  four  thousand 
scholars  under  its  care ;  but  upon  the  death  of  the  king,  who 
was  favorable  to  Christianity,  the  queen,  his  successor,  mani- 


AND    REGISTER.  319 

fested  the  most  bitter  liostility  to  Christianity,  and  has  succeeded 
in  a  great  measure  in  suppressing  it  by  persecution  and  exile. 
There  are,  however,  a  considerable  number  of  the  Malagasy 
converts  at  the  neighboring  island  of  Mauritius,  among  whom 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Le  Brun  is  now  laboring. 

In  the  West  Indies  and  Guiana,  the  London  Missionary  So- 
ciety have  missions  at  Deraerara,  Berbice,  and  Jamaica.  The 
Demerara  mission  includes  seven  stations,  which  are  occupied 
by  five  missionaries  and  five  teachers.  The  day-schools  of  the 
mission  contain  about  nine  hundred  scholars  ;  and  there  are 
several  hundred  communicants  in  the  various  churches.  The 
Berbice  mission  comprises  eight  stations,  occupied  by  six  mis- 
sionaries and  two  assistants.  The  Jamaica  mission  contains 
twelve  stations  and  eight  missionaries ;  with  about  eight  hun- 
dred communicants. 

The  present  operations  of  this  Society,  as  we  have  just  sur- 
veyed them,  consist  of  twelve  missions,  with  one  hundred  and 
three  stations,  occupied  by  one  hundred  and  seventy-one  mission- 
aries, and  above  seven  hundred  native  assistants. 

Two  important  branches  of  its  labors  have  not  been  noticed 
hitherto  :  the  translation  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  the  train- 
ing of  a  native  ministry.  During  the  last  year  (1849-50)  the 
translation  of  the  Old  Testament  has  been  prosecuted  in  Raro- 
tongan,  Samoan,  and  Sechuana;  and  the  New  Testament  in 
Chinese,  Canarese,  and  Teloogoo  has  been  revised.  These 
learned  labors  are  in  difierent  stages  of  progress ;  but  the  entire 
Scriptures  in  Rarotongan,  and  the  New  Testament  in  Chinese 
and  Canarese,  approach  completion.  To  secure  the  earliest 
practicable  attainment  of  an  object  of  so  much  importance,  it 
has  been  deemed  a  sacred  duty  to  make  use  of  the  valuable 
acquirements  of  missionary  brethren  whose  vigor  may  soon  fail. 
Dr.  Medhurst,  whose  knowledge  of  Chinese  is  unequalled,  is  yet 
engaged,  together  with  his  well-qualified  coadjutors,  in  the  im- 
portant work  of  revising  the  Chinese  Old  Testament. 


320  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

Scarcely  inferior  in  importance  is  the  preparation  of  a  na- 
tive ministry,  by  a  suitable  coarse  of  mental  and  theological 
training ;  and  it  is  an  encouraging  fact,  that  native  Christians, 
of  tried  character  and  promising  qualifications,  are  enjoying 
these  preparatory  advantages ;  at  Tahiti,  Rarotonga,  and  the 
Navigators  islands,  in  Polynesia ;  and  at  Nagercoil,  Bangalore, 
and  Calcutta,  in  India.  At  Hankey,  in  South  Africa,  the  So- 
ciety has  also  an  institution  for  the  ministerial  education  of 
young  men  born  in  the  Colony ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  same 
desirable  object  will  soon  be  accomplished  in  the  West  Indies. 
In  connection  with  this  subject,  it  will  be  gratifying  to  learn, 
that,  during  the  tour  of  Mr.  Freeman,  he  took  part  in  the  ordi- 
nation of  Mr.  Arie  Van  Ruyer,  as  pastor  of  a  native  church  at 
Tidmanton,  a  station  of  the  Kat  River  settlement ;  and  also  that 
two  native  pastors,  Enoch  Paul  and  N.  Shadrach,  were  recently 
ordained  in  India  over  the  Tamil  churches  at  Bellary  and  Ban- 
galore. 

The  receipts  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  for  the  year 
1849-50,  were  as  follows  : — 

£         s.    d. 

Received  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,   .     .     50,778     5     9 
Do.      at   missionary  stations  and  from 

auxiliaries  abroad,       ....     11,766  15     2 


Total  receipts, 
or  $302,637. 

The  total  expenditure  was  £64,489  95.  5d. 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

CHURCH   MISSIONARY  SOCIETY. 

The  Church  Missionary  Society  had  its  origin  in  the  revival 
of  evangelical  religion  among  members  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  and  numbers  among 
its  earliest  friends  the  excellent  Simeon,  the  Venns,  and  Cecil. 
In  the  year  1801,  this  Society  was  founded  with  the  specific 
purpose  of  evangelizing  Africa  and  the  East.  Some  time  elapsed 
before  suitable  persons  could  be  obtained  to  send  forth  as  mis- 
sionaries. The  first  who  embarked  were  two  young  Lutheran 
ministers, — Melchior  Renner  and  Peter  Hartvvig.  Their  desti- 
nation was  to  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone,  which  they  reached 
in  1804,  their  intention  being  to  plant  a  mission  among  the 
Susoos,  in  the  vicinity.  A  reinforcement  of  three  other  clergy- 
men was  sent  to  join  them  after  two  years,  and  several  more  in 
1809.  With  these  auxiliaries,  the  brethren  began  their  opera- 
tions at  the  two  stations,  at  the  Rio  Pongas  river  and  Fanti- 
mania.  The  natives,  and  especially  the  slave-traders,  having 
become  exasperated  by  efforts  made  in  1811,  to  break  up  the 
slave-trade  at  Rio  Pongas,  and  suspecting  the  missionaries  of 
instigating  them,  conceived  great  animosity  against  them,  and 
burnt  several  of  their  buildings.  At  length,  in  1818,  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  traders  continuing  unabated,  the  mission  was  re- 
moved from  the  Susoos  to  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone  itself. 
After  the  slave-trade  was  abolished  by  the  British  Government, 
a  wider  and  more  promising  field  of  usefulness  was  opened 
among  the  rescued  negroes  who  were  brought — often  in  num 


322  CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

bers — to  the  colony,  and  supported  for  a  time  by  the  govern- 
ment. Land  was  given  to  the  missionaries  at  Leicester  Moun- 
t;iin,  for  the  erection  of  an  institution  for  the  instruction  of  the 
rescued  slaves ;  whence  they  subsequently  removed  to  Regent's 
Town,  where  they  established  a  College. 

The  labors  of  the  Society  in  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone  have 
not  only  been  directed  to  the  instruction  and  pastoral  oversight 
of  the  Africans  who  inhabit  the  colony,  but  also  to  the  evangel- 
izing of  the  heathen  tribes  of  Western  Africa,  "  that  from  Sierra 
Leone  as  a  centre  the  light  of  Christianity  may  issue  forth  to 
illuminate  and  bless  distant  kingdoms."  The  missionary  corps 
employed  consists  of  fourteen  European  and  three  native  mis- 
sionaries, fifty-one  teachers,  nine  catechists,  and  a  surgeon.  The 
mission  comprises  fifteen  stations.  The  number  of  communi- 
cants is  2061,  of  scholars  in  the  various  schools  6184,  and  of 
students  in  the  grammar-school  and  Christian  Institution  sixty- 
six.  During  the  past  year  there  have  been  large  additions  to 
the  church  by  the  baptism  of  adults  who  had  long  been  under 
instruction,  and  gave  good  evidence  of  their  sincere  and  intelli- 
gent profession  of  faith  in  Christ. 

The  Society  has  extended  its  operations  in  West  Africa  to  the 
kingdom  of  Ashantee,  where  the  Yoruba  mission  was  established 
in  1845-6  at  Abbeokuta  and  Badagry.  At  these  stations  it  has 
six  ordained  missionaries,  with  nine  native  teachers,  a  catechist, 
and  two  European  assistants. 

On  the  Eastern  coast  of  Africa,  the  Church  Missionary  Soci- 
ety has  undertaken  a  mission  at  Rabbai  Mpia,  south  of  Abyssinia, 
among  the  Gallas  and  other  tribes.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Krapf  has 
been  laboring  there  since  1844,  chiefly  in  exploring  the  field. 
After  a  short  return  to  England,  he  has  gone  forth  again,  accom- 
panied by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Diehlmann  and  PfefFerle. 

In  Australasia  the  first  mission  of  the  Society  was  commenced 
in  August,  1809,  by  Messrs.  William  Hall  and  John  King,  who 
sailed  to  Port  Jackson,  in  New  South  Wales,  where,  on  account 


AND    REGISTER.  323 

of  unfavorable  intelligence,  they  were  detained  until  1814,  when 
tbey  repaired  to  New  Zealand,  and  commenced  their  efforts  at 
Rangheehoo,  on  land  formerly  granted  to  the  Church  Mission- 
ary Society.  A  reinforcement  arrived  in  1819,  at  which  time 
the  missionaries  purchased  a  tract  of  land  upon  which  they 
commenced  a  settlement  to  counteract  the  roving  habits  of  the 
natives,  and  place  them  more  under  the  influence  of  the-mission. 
Notwithstanding  the  discouragements  which  the  missionaries 
encountered  from  the  savage  habits  and  wars  of  the  native  tribes, 
they  formed,  several  new  settlements  from  time  to  time,  and  ex- 
tended their  labors  to  the  instruction  of  the  youth,  and  to  the 
printing  and  circulation  in  the  islands  of  such  portions  of  Scrip- 
ture as  they  had  translated  into  the  vernacular  language. 

At  present  the  New  Zealand  Mission  is  prosecuted  by  twenty 
ordained  missionaries,  ten  European,  and  four  hundred  and 
sixty-one  native  catechists  and  teachers.  The  number  of  sta- 
tions is  twenty-three,  in  connection  with  which  there  are  5213 
communicants.  Schools  have  been  estabhshed,  but  the  number 
of  scholars  is  not  specified. 

In  Northern  India,  the  operations  of  the  Churcli  Missionary 
Society  were  commenced  in  the  year  1816,  by  the  sending  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Greenwood,  his  wife,  and  Mr.  Schroeter  to  Calcutta. 
They  decided  to  reside  at  Garden  Reach,  within  a  few  miles  of 
that  city,  and  to  open  schools  at  the  neighboring  village  of 
Kidderpore.  The  mission  gradually  extended,  and  reinforce- 
ments were  from  time  to  time  sent  to  its  assistance,  until,  in 
1823,  it  embraced  twelve  European  clergymen  within  its  limits. 
It  was  in  this  year  that  Bishop  Heber  reached  India,  and, 
through  his  untiring  exertions  in  its  behalf,  the  Society's  afiairs 
were  much  improved.  An  auxiliary  society  was  formed  under 
his  superintendence  to  assist  the  parent  institution  in  its  opera- 
tions in  Northern  India.  A  great  loss  was  sustained  by  the 
mission  upon  the  death  of  Bishop  Heber,  which  occurred  in 
the  early  part  of  the  year  1826.     Several  other  valuable  laborers 


324  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

in  tlie  mission  liave  been  removed  from  their  earthly  toils, 
among  whom  are  mentioned  the  names  of  Bowley,  Corrie,  Rob- 
inson, and  Abdool-Messeeh,  the  last  of  whom  was  converted 
under  the  preaching  of  Henry  Martyn,  and  whose  labors  at 
Agra  were  productive  of  saving  benefits  to  many  of  the  heathen. 

The  stations  of  this  mission  are  twenty-one  in  number,  the 
principal  of  which  are  Calcutta,  Krishnaghur,  Benares,  Agra, 
etc.  The  Corresponding  Committee,  in  their  report  to  the  So- 
ciety, estimate  the  whole  number  of  native  Christians  in  con- 
nection with  the  Society  Mission  in  North  India  at  6164,  of 
whom  1134  are  communicants.  The  number  of  new  converts 
during  the  year  has  been  seventy-one,  exclusive  of  children. 
In  the  Society's  schools  in  North  India  are  5161  pupils,  of 
whom  1092  are  native  Christian  boys  and  girls,  and  the  re- 
mainder heathen  and  Mussulman.  The  schools  of  various  sorts 
are  ninety-eight  in  number.  The  Himalaya  mission  is  restricted 
to  one  station  at  Kotghur,  that  of  Simla  having  been  abandoned. 
Two  boarding-schools  have  been  established,  in  which,  within 
the  last  year,  two  interesting  conversions  have  occurred. 

The  Bombay  and  Western  India  Misson  was  founded  in  1820. 
It  has  been  prosecuted  on  a  less  extensive  scale  than  the  other 
missions  in  India.  The  stations  are  five  in  number,  at  which 
seven  missionaries,  and  forty  native  and  other  teachers  and  cate- 
chists  are  engaged.  The  number  of  communicants  is  forty- 
three;  of  scholars  13*73. 

The  Madras  and  South  India  Mission  was  commenced  in 
1814,  when  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Schnarre  and  Rhenius  reached 
Madras,  who,  after  studying  the  language  at  Tranquebar,  loca- 
ted themselves  at  Blacktown,  where  great  interest  was  mani- 
fested by  the  Hindoos,  as  well  as  the  Moslems  and  Roman 
Catholics,  in  the  new  doctrines  preached  to  them.  Soon  after 
their  arrival  the  missionaries  established  schools,  and,  notwith- 
standing the  prejudices  of  the  people,  had  soon  gathered  about 
two  hundred  scholars.     In  succeeding  years  reinforcements  were 


AND    REGISTER.  325 

sent  to  the  mission.  The  New  Testament  was  translated  into 
the  Tamul  language;  and,  in  the  year  1823,  when  the  version 
was  nearly  completed,  more  than  thirty-five  thousand  five  hun- 
dred copies  had  been  printed.  There  w^ere  at  that  time  five 
hundred  and  eig^ht  children  in  the  schools.  The  mission  estab- 
lishment  at  present  consists  of  thirty-four  ordained  mission- 
aries, eight  native  catechists,  four  European  and  six  East  In- 
dian catechists,  417  native  teachers  and  schoolmasters,  seventy 
native,  five  European,  and  two  East  Indian  female  teachers,  and 
one  printer.  The  stations  are  nineteen,  the  communicauts 
3733,  which,  however,  does  not  include  the  whole  number  of 
baptized  converts.  The  Tinevelly  Mission  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  under  the  care  of  the  Society.  The  whole  number 
of  converts  on  the  1st  of  January,  1850,  was  23,994,  above 
one  half  of  that  number  consisting  of  baptized  converts.  A 
very  small  portion  of  these,  however,  are  communicants.  It 
is  gratifying  to  find  established  among  these  converts  various 
religious  and  benevolent  societies,  such  as  the  Bible,  the  Book 
and  Tract,  the  Church-Building,  and  the  Friend-in-Need  socie- 
ties, and  various  associations  for  mutual  support  in  sickness. 
These  enterprises  have  been  carried  on  with  increasing  spirit 
and  success  during  the  past  year,  and  a  new  association  has 
been  added  to  the  number  of  a  peculiarly  interesting  character, 
termed  the  "  Heathen's  Friend  Society."  It  was  commenced 
in  the  early  part  of  1849  by  a  few  poor  native  Christians,  being 
entirely  a  scheme  of  their  own.  They  propose  it  as  their  object 
to  open  day-schools  in  the  surrounding  heathen  villages,  where 
the  light  of  the  Gospel  has  not  yet  shined,  and  where  the  glad 
tidings  of  salvation  have  not  yet  been  proclaimed,  to  educate 
heathen  children  in  the  Christian  religion.  In  this  work  they 
intend  to  employ  native  Christians  as  teachers  and  tract  distrib- 
utors. Six  months  after  its  establishment,  this  Society  had  ob- 
tained the  cordial  support  of  the  native  and  European  Chris- 
tians, and  was  in  active  operation,  sustaining  two  catechists, 


326  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

three  schoolmasters,  one  tract  distributor,  and  three  schools  con- 
taining 140  pupils. 

The  Ceylon  mission  was  commenced  in  1818  by  four  mission- 
aries sent  from  Europe,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Lambricli,  Mayor, 
"Ward  and  Knight,  who  were  stationed  at  Kandy,  Calpentym, 
Galle,  and  JafFnapatam.  The  field  was  an  inviting  one,  although 
much  injury  had  been  done  to  the  cause  of  Christianity  by  the 
measures  of  the  Dutch  government  who  disqualified  all  from  in- 
heriting property  who  had  not  been  baptized.  The  operations  of 
the  mission  were  increased  and  extended  in  1820,  by  the  associa- 
tion of  two  more  missionaries  with  those  who  already  occupied 
the  field.  They  undertook,  in  1822,  in  addition  to  their  other 
duties,  the  superintendence  of  about  forty  government  schools  in 
the  district  of  Galleana  Matura.  Through  this  agency  they 
expected  to  have  a  control  over  the  whole  of  the  religious  in- 
struction of  the  youth,  and  so  to  exert  a  very  wide-spread  influ- 
ence in  favor  of  Christianity.  The  Ceylon  mission  at  present 
comprises  thirteen  ordained  missionaries,  including  three  natives 
of  the  island ;  fourteen  native  catechists ;  eighty-five  native 
teachers  and  schoolmasters,  and  nineteen  native  schoolmistresses. 
There  are  six  stations  connected  with  the  mission,  with  296 
communicants,  and  2,808  attendants  on  public  woi^hip.  There 
are  three  seminaries  which  contain  forty-eight  pupils,  and 
seventy-seven  schools  with  2,788  scholars.  Besides  the  churches 
established  at  the  stations,  the  missionaries  report  the  formation 
of  twenty-five  village  congregations  at  which  there  is  a  con- 
siderable attendance,  notwithstanding  the  eflforts  of  the  Buddhist 
priests  and  their  abettors.  No  obstacle  to  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel  is  found  to  be  so  great  in  the  island,  as  the  incorrect 
notions  which  the  natives  have  conceived  of  the  nature  of 
Christianity.  Almost  the  whole  adult  population,  even  the 
priests,  have  been  baptized  ;  and  crowds  of  these  nominal  Chris- 
tians may  be  seen  flocking  to  the  heathen  temples,  from  distances 
often  of  from   seventy  to   one  hundred   and   fifty  miles,  and 


AND    REGISTER.  327 

worshipping  false  gods.  Many  of  these  nominal  Christians  are 
rigid  Buddhists. 

The  Society  commenced  a  mission  to  China  in  the  year  1844. 
There  are  now  stationed  there  seven  ordained  missionaries,  who 
are  distributed  at  the  stations  of  Shanghai,  Ning-po  and  Hong- 
Kong. 

On  the  Mediterranean,  three  missions  have  been  estabhshed  ; 
at  Syra,  Smyrna  and  Cairo.  At  Syra  the  mission  establishment 
consists  of  one  ordained  missionary,  with  ten  assistant  teachers. 
The  missionary  Mr.  Hildner,  has  been  engaged  chiefly  in  in- 
structing youthj  of  whom  there  are  now  462  in  his  schools.  At 
Smyrna  the  Society  has  one  missionary  with  two  assistants,  who 
labor  principally  among  the  nominal  Christians  at  that  port; 
and  at  Cairo  it  supports  two  missionaries  with  five  assistant 
teachers.  The  number  of  communicants  at  the  last  station  is 
eighteen;  of  scholars  178.  Abyssinia,  once  a  promising  field 
of  the  Society's  labors,  is  at  present  abandoned  in  consequence 
of  the  expulsion  of  missionaries  by  instigation  of  the  Romanist 
emissaries.  It  is  reported,  however,  that  the  Romanists,  in  turn, 
have  been  expelled ;  and  the  king  seems  disposed  to  invite  back 
the  Society's  laborers.  He  has  lately  proposed  to  the  excellent 
bishop  Gobat,  to  undertake  the  superintendence  of  the  Abyssinian 
convent  at  Jerusalem ;  which  will  afford  him  a  favorable  oppor- 
tunity for  imparting  religious  instruction  to  the  many  natives, 
who  visit  that  city. 

In  the  Western  Hemisphere,  this  Society  has  established 
missions  in  some  of  the  British  colonies,  commenced  in  1823. 
The  North  West  American  mission  is  near  the  lakes  Winnipeg 
and  Manitoba.  It  consists  of  six  stations  under  the  charge  of  five 
missionaries,  and  nine  schoolmasters  and  catechists.  The  con- 
verts, chiefly  from  among  the  Indians,  number  489  ;  the  schools 
contain  about  seven  hundred  scholars.  In  British  Guiana,  two 
missionaries  and  five  teachers  are  employed,  among  the  Arrowaks 
and  Carribeese.     The  communicants  number  seventy,  and  the 


328  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

scholars  about  the  same.  This  missiou  was  established  1827. 
la  Jamaica,  the  operations  of  the  Society  have  been  reduced  to 
a  single  station  occupied  by  a  catechist ;  the  stations  previously 
formed  having  been  added  to  the-colonial  Church  Establishment. 
Communicants,  358  ;  scholars,  286. 

In  reviewing  these  various  missionary  operations,  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  in  their  last  report, 
dwell  on  the  evidences  of  the  divine  favor  resting  upon  their 
work;  in  proof  of  which  they  appeal  "to  the  increase  of  con- 
verts, to  the  grace  manifested  by  many  of  them,  and  to  the 
evident  establishing,  strengthening,  and  settling  of  their  principal 
missions.  They  appeal,  also,  to  the  favor  given  to  their  mission- 
aries in  sight  of  the  Heathen  ;  such  as  the  support  afforded  by 
the  heathen  chiefs  of  Abbeokuta,  the  protection  of  our  mission- 
aries by  the  heathen  tribes  of  East  iVfrica,  the  welcome  given  by 
the  heathen  population  of  Travancore  to  a  zealous  missionary 
returning  to  his  work ;  and  the  toleration  now  granted  in 
Turkey  and  China.  They  appeal,  also,  to  the  open  doors  which 
the  Providence  of  God  -is  setting  before  the  Society  ;  such  as,  the 
invitation  given  to  it  by  a  zealous  naval  officer  to  follow  up  the 
benevolent  enterprise  at  the  Gallinas,  which  he  had  achieved  by 
naval  force,  the  voice  from  Scinde,  and  the  special  call  to  the 
Punjab.  In  one  and  the  same  letter,  lately  received  from  Cal- 
cutta, applications  for  help  were  conveyed  from  the  widely- 
separated  localities  of  Bhagulpur,  Delhi,  Deyrah,  Assam,  Penang, 
and  the  Punjab." 

To  sum  up  ;  the  missions  of  the  Society  are  twelve  in  num- 
ber, comprehending  one  hundred  and  six  stations,  and  prosecuted 
by  1,726  laborers,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  are 
ordained  ministers,  and  1,339  native  male  assistants.  The  total 
number  of  communicants  in  connection  with  the  missions,  (not 
including  all  baptized  converts,)  is  13,551.  The  total  number 
of  scholars  in  the  mission  schools  is  not  specified,  but  must  be  in 
the  neighborhood  of  thirty  thousand. 


AND    REGISTER.  329 

The  income  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  for  the  year 
1849-50,  amounted  to  £104,273  ds.  lOd,  or  $504,685. 

At  the  semi-centennial  celebration  of  the  Society's  formation, 
a  "  Jubilee  fund"  was  raised,  for  the  purpose  of  providing  for  the 
relief  of  disabled  missionaries,  the  endowment  of  native  churches, 
and  the  erection  of  missionary  buildings.  In  the  first  of  these 
purposes  was  included  the  establishment  of  a  "  Home,"  for  the 
children  of  missionaries.  This  interesting  establishment  has 
been  recently  opened,  and  affords  accommodation  for  forty 
children.  The  "  Jubilee  fund"  amounts  already  to  £56,822  35.  7c?., 
or  $275,040. 


CHAPTEK  XVn.  ' 

ENGLISH   WESLEYAN-METHODIST   MISSIONARY   SOCIETY. 

The  Wesleyan  enterprise,  from  its  very  outset,  assumed  a 
missionary  character;  and  such  in  its  development,  both  in 
Great  Britain  and  in  the  United  States,  it  has  continued  to  be. 
But  without  entering  into  the  history  of  the  labors  of  its  earliest 
missionaries  in  our  own  country,  we  shall  glance  only  at  those 
efforts  which  have  been  made  by  English  Wesleyans,  to  propa- 
gate the  Gospel  in  heathen  and  Roman  Catholic  countries. 

In  the  West  Indies,  under  the  direction  of  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Coke  and  others,  missions  were  commenced  by  members  of  the 
Wesleyan  connection,  as  early  as  the  year  1778  ;  and  in  the 
island  of  Antigua  alone,  there  were,  five  years  after,  more  than 
one  thousand  members  of  that  denomination.  The  first  mis- 
sionaries in  this  island  were  Messrs.  Baxter  and  Warrener,  whose 
labors  were  attended  with  great  success.  Subsequent  mission- 
ary operations  were  extended  to  the  islands  of  St.  Vincent,  St. 
Christopher,  Barbadoes,  Dominica,  Jamaica,  Bermuda,  and  St. 
Domingo,  and  also  to  Demerara  in  British  Guiana. 

In  British  North  America,  missions  were  commenced  in  the 
year  1779,  by  Mr.  Black,  in  Nova  Scotia,  including  Cape  Bre- 
ton and  Prince  Edward's  Island,  and  subsequently  in  New 
Brunswick,  Newfoundland,  Canada,  and  Honduras. 

Through  the  assiduous  efforts  of  Dr.  Coke,  the  Wesleyan 
Conference  determined  to  send  the  Gospel  to  the  East  Indies  ; 
and  in  1813  commissioned  a  corps  of  missionaries  to  Ceylon, 
where    they  had  resolved  to  commence  their   efforts.     These 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER.  831 

brethren  were,  besides  Dr.  Coke,  Messrs.  Harvard,  Clough,  Ault, 
Erskine,  Squance,  and  Lynch.  But  the  principal  mover  of  the 
enterprise,  was  not  spared  to  behold  the  shores  of  the  island  for 
whose  evangelization  he  had  put  forth  such  efforts.  Upon  their 
arrival  at  Ceylon,  the  missionaries  were  distributed  at  the  sta- 
tions of  Jaffna,  Batticaloa,  Galle,  and  Matura  ;  where  they  "pros- 
ecuted their  study  of  the  Taraul  and  Cingalese,  and  began  their 
labors. 

The  rapidly  increasing  claims  of  these  missions  induced  in 
ISlY  the  formation  of  the  General  Wesley  an  Missionary  So- 
ciety, in  which  the  affairs  of  the  missions  are  conducted  by  a 
joint  committee  of  ministers  and  laymen,  under  the  direction 
and  final  decision  of  the  annual  conference.  "  The  object  of  this 
Society,"  says  one  of  the  fundamental  regulations,  "  is  to  excite 
and  combine,  on  a  plan  more  systematic  and  efficient  than  has 
heretofore  been  accomphshed,  the  exertions  of  the  societies  and 
congregations  of  the  Wesley an-Methodists  (and  of  others  who 
are  friends  to  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  world,  and  to  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  generally,  in  foreign  lands),  in  the  sup- 
port and  enlargement  of  the  foreign  missions  which  were  first 
established  by  the  Rev.  John  Wesley,  M.  A,,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Coke,  LL.D.,  and  others ;  and  which  are  now,  or  shall  be,  from 
year  to  year,  carried  on  under  the  sanction  and  direction  of  the 
Conference  of  the  people  called  Methodists." 

The  present  missions  of  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society  are 
located  in  Ireland,  Germany,  France,  Switzerland,  and  Spain  ; 
in  India  and  Ceylon ;  in  Australasia  and  Polynesia ;  in  South 
and  West  Africa ;  and  in  the  West  Indies  and  British  North 
America. 

"  The  Society's  missions  in  Ireland  are  eighteen  in  number. 
They  embrace  many  counties,  and  are  scattered  throughout  the 
kingdom.  The  reports  furnished  by  the  missionaries  abundantly 
prove  that  these  operations  are  instrumentally  productive  of  a 
large  amount  of  benefit."     There  are  at  present  attached  to  the 


332  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

mission  two  hundred  and  seventy  chapels  and  other  preaching 
places,  with  twenty-four  missionaries  and  fifty-six  other  paid 
agents.  There  are  thirty-five  local  preachers,  and  2,485  church 
members;  and  3,67*7  scholars  attend  the  day  and  Sunday- 
schools. 

"  The  operations  of  the  Society  in  Wirtemberg  are  still  pros- 
ecuted by  Mr.  Miiller  and  his  assistants,  in  the  midst  of  many 
difficulties.  Weekly  religious  services  are  held  at  about  sixty 
places,  at  which  upwards  of  one  thousand  individuals  are  now 
united  together  in  church-fellowship.  Mr.  Miiller  has  sixteen 
fellow-laborers  associated  with  him,  who  read  and  expound  the 
Scriptures,  and  conduct  public  worship  in  the  several  congre- 
gations." 

In  several  of  the  principal  towns  of  France  and  French  Swit- 
zerland, the  Society  has  flourishing  missions  ;  as  also  among  the 
Waldenses  of  the  French  and  Italian  Alps.  The  number  of  its 
stations  in  this  portion  of  the  field,  is  eight ;  preaching  places 
and  chapels  one  hundred  and  nine  ;  missionaries  and  assistants 
nineteen.  At  Gibraltar,  are  stationed  two  missionaries,  with  two 
teachers,  under  whose  care  are  131  scholars. 

The  missions  in  Ceylon  are  divided  into  the  Cingalese  and 
Tamul  districts ;  in  the  former  of  which,  including  the  southern 
portion  of  the  island,  are  eleven  stations,  with  twelve  mission- 
aries and  ninety-one  catechists  and  teachers.  The  value  of  the 
native  agency,  which  has  been  so  largely  raised  up  in  South 
Ceylon,  is  made  the  more  apparent  by  the  increased  amount  of 
labor  and  responsibility  devolved  upon  it.  The  members  have 
increased  to  twelve  hundred  and  fourteen,  chiefly  native  con- 
verts; and  the  schools  have  received  considerable  additions. 
Four  new  chapels  have  been  built  during  the  year,  and  four 
more  are  in  course  of  erection. 

In  the  Tamul  district,  which  includes  the  northern  district  of 
Ceylon,  there  are  five  stations  and  twenty-eight  chapels  and 
preaching  places,  with  seven  missionaries  and  assistants.     There 


AND    REGISTER.  333 

are  fifty-seven  day  and  Sunday-schools  attended  by  1,365  schol- 
ars. The  labors  of  the  missionaries  in  this  district  durino-  the 
last  year  have  met  with  considerable  encouragement. 

In  continental  India,  the  missions  of  the  Society  are  com- 
prised within  the  Madras  and  Mysore  districts;  the  former 
among  the  Tamul  and  the  latter  among  the  Canarese  natives. 
The  number  of  missionaries  and  assistants  is  fifteen  ;  of  cate- 
chists  and  teachers  fifty-seven ;  and  of  scholars,  1,960.  The 
printing  estabHshment  has  issued  more  than  1,200,000  pages. 

In  Australasia,  the  Society's  missionaries  are  located  in  New 
South  Wales,  Australia  Felix,  South  Austraha,  Western  Aus- 
tralia, and  Van  Dieman's  Land,  or  Tasmania.  The  local  reports 
recently  received  from  the  stations  in  Australia,  communicate 
very  encouraging  information  with  regard  to  the  advancement 
of  the  cause  in  many  districts.  In  several  places  the  chapels 
already  erected  are  found  too  small  to  accommodate  the  increas- 
ing numbers  who  are  desirous  of  attending  upon  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel.  At  other  localities  places  of  worship  are  in  pro- 
cess of  erection ;  while  in  many  where  no  missionary  has  yet 
been  stationed,  a  great  desire  is  expressed  that  one  may  be  pro- 
cured. In  South  Australia,  the  Society's  mission  is  rising  in 
importance,  and  extending  its  beneficial  influence  throughout 
the  colony.  The  financial  aflfairs  of  this  colony  are  prosperous ; 
the  expenses  for  the  support  of  missionaries  are  met  by  the  vol- 
untary contributions  of  the  people ;  and  two  more  laborers,  it  is 
expected,  will  be  sustained  in  like  manner.  The  schools  are 
rapidly  increasing  in  efficiency  and  number.  In  Van  Dieman's 
Land,  the  missions  are  in  a  flourishing  condition,  and  large  ad- 
ditions have  been  made  to  the  churches.  In  the  Australian  and 
Van  Dieman's  Land  mission,  there  are  twenty-seven  stations  and 
two  hundred  and  forty-one  places  of  worship ;  with  thirty  mis- 
sionaries and  assistants,  and  fifty-seven  teachers  and  catechists. 
Church  members,  4,210;  schools,  127,  with  6,585  scholars. 

A  mission  was  commenced  in  New  Zealand,  by  Rev.  Mr. 


334  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

Leigh,  in  1822.  The  prospects  of  this  enterprise  were  at  first 
such  as  to  warrant  sanguine  expectations  of  its  success  ;  but  the 
natural  ferocity  of  the  inhabitants,  and  their  treachery  were  soon 
evinced  in  the  plundering  of  the  missionary  estabhshment  by  a 
furious  band  of  warriors,  and  compelled  the  missionaries  who 
had  reinforced  Mr.  Leigh,  to  escape  from  the  island.  After  a 
suspension  of  a  few  years,  this  mission  was  recommenced  in 
1840.  At  present  its  condition  is  encouraging,  although  the 
hindrances  to  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  among  the  islands  are 
not  few.  Great  attention  is  paid  to  the  education  of  the  youth, 
and  at  Three  Kings  there  is  a  native  Institution  to  assist  those 
who  desire  to  pursue  the  more  advanced  branches  of  learning. 
The  fruits  of  the  efforts  of  the  missionaries  cannot  better  be 
represented  than  in  the  words  of  the  Governor  of  New  Zealand, 
in  a  despatch  to  the  British  Government : — "This  short  review 
of  the  present  state  of  the  principal  settlements  in  New  Zealand, 
will,  I  think,  satisfy  your  Lordship  of  the  general  state  of  pros- 
perity of  this  colony.  It  only  remains  for  me  to  add  that  the 
exertions  of  our  most  excellent  bishop  and  his  clergy,  together 
with  those  of  the  numerous,  and  I  may  say,  admirable  body  of 
missionaries  of  different  denominations,  have  secured  to  this 
colony  a  greater  amount  of  religious  supervision  and  of  religious 
instruction  than  any  other  young  country  has  probably  ever 
enjoyed  ;  and  this  circumstance  cannot  fail  ultimately  to  produce 
a  very  powerful  effect  upon  the  future  population  of  this  country  ; 
while  at  the  present  day  it  secures  to  New  Zealand  advantages 
which  may  be  readily  imagined,  but  which  it  would  be  difficult 
to  describe  in  detail,  as  they  enter  into  all  the  ramifications  of 
the  society  of  the  country,  and  of  the  domestic  life  both  of  the 
natives  and  Europeans.  However,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  present  state  of  tranquillity  and  prosperity  of  this  country, 
and  the  rapid  advances  which  the  native  population  are  making, 
are  in  a  very  great  degree  to  be  attributed  to  the  exertions  of 
the  various  religious  bodies  in  New  Zealand." 


AND    REGISTER.  335 

In  the  Friendly  Islands,  at  the  stations  of  Tongatabu,  Habai, 
Vavaii,  Niua  Tobutabu,  etc.,  there  are  located  ten  missionaries, 
with  nine  catechists  ;  the  number  of  communicants  being  7,202, 
and  the  number  of  scholars  7,426.  In  the  Feejee  district,  which 
has  been  in  a  great  degree  reclaimed  from  heathenism  under  tho 
efforts  of  the  Society,  there  are  stationed  five  missionaries,  and 
thirty-eight  catechists.     Communicants  1,713  ;  scholars  1,960. 

The  operations  of  the  Society  in  Southern  Africa  are  on  a 
large  scale ;  they  are  divided  into  the  districts  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  Albany  and  CafFraria,  and  Bechuana.  The  total 
number  of  stations  is  forty-two ;  of  missionaries,  forty  ;  and  of 
catechists  and  teachers  one  hundred  and  five  ;  of  communicants 
there  are  4,365  ;  and  of  scholars,  4,580.  The  labors  of  the 
missionaries  are  among  the  colonists,  as  well  as  the  CafFres,  the 
Bechuanas,  and  other  natives.  In  CafFraria,  the  benefits  of  the 
mission-schools  and  Institution  are  now  becoming  strikingly 
manifest.  An  improved  class  of  native  teachers  is  rising  up,  and 
the  whole  country,  embraced  within  the  district,  presents  a  more 
hopeful  and  inviting  prospect  than  was  ever  before  witnessed. 
The  mission  press  is  in  active  operation,  and  among  its  most 
recent  issues  is  a  new  and  improved  grammar  of  the  Cafire 
language. 

In  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone  is  situated  one  of  the  most 
prosperous  of  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society's  fields  of  labor. 
There  is  an  evident  improvement  in  the  tone  of  personal  piety 
among  the  people,  and  there  has  been  a  net  increase  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  in  the  number  of  full  and  accredited 
church-members  during  the  past  year.  There  are  three  stations 
in  this  district ;  under  the  charge  of  seven  missionaries,  and 
forty -three  teachers  and  catechists.  The  number  of  church 
members  is  4,712,  and  of  scholars  ^958.  There  are  also  eight 
missionaries  stationed  at  the  Gambia  and  on  Cape  Coast,  at  nine 
different  stations  ;  and  churches  have  been  organized  with  1,285 
members.     The  schools  contain  1,765  scholars. 


336  CHllISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

The  Society's  missions  in  the  British  West  Indies  present  in 
suine  respects  an  unfavorable  aspect.  The  alteration  in  the 
duties  on  sugar  has  so  far  affected  the  worldly  condition  of  the 
peojjle,  as  greatly  to  diminish  their  contributions  towards  the 
support  of  religious  ordinances,  and  withdraw  their  attention  from 
the  subject  of  religion.  In  many  places,  however,  there  have 
been  encouraging  indications  of  the  success  of  missionary  efforts 
during  the  past  year.  The  field  is  divided  into  the  districts  of 
Antigua,  St.  Vincent  and  Demerara,  Jamaica,  Bahama,  and 
Hayti,  and  includes  forty  stations  with  seventy-four  missionaries 
and  128  catechists.  The  number  of  members  is  50,567,  and  of 
scholars  8,090. 

The  missions  in  British  North  America  comprise  the  United 
province  of  Canada,  the  provinces  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Bruns- 
wick, the  territories  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and  the 
islands  of  Prince  Edward,  Cape  Breton,  and  Newfoundland. 
The  missions  in  Western  Canada  are  divided  into  two  classes^ 
Domestic,  embracing  the  new  settlements  ;  and  Indian,  estab- 
lished for  the  benefit  of  the  aboriginal  tribes.  The  domestic 
missions  are  twenty-seven  in  number,  the  Indian  stations  twelve. 
The  total  number  of  stations  in  British  North  America  is  117 ; 
the  number  of  missionaries  131. 

To  sum  up  the  operations  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Mission- 
ary Society :  the  total  number  of  its  stations  in  various  parts  of 
the  world,  is  three  hundred  and  twenty-four  ;  and  of  chapels  and 
other  preaching  places,  in  connection  with  these  stations,  2,992. 
Its  missionaries  and  assistant-missionaries,  including  fourteen 
supernumeraries,  are  four  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  and  its 
other  paid  agents,  as  catechists,  interpreters,  day-school  teachers? 
etc.,  781.  Its  unpaid  agents,  as  Sunday-school  teachers,  etc., 
amount  to  8,087.  The  full  and  accredited  church-members,  in 
connection  with  these  missions,  number  105,394,  and  there  are 
on  trial  for  church  membership  4,830  persons.     In  attendance 


AND   REGISTER.  337 

upon  tlie  scliools  there    are    V8,54S  scholars.     Eight  printing 
establishments  are  in  operation. 

The  total  income  of  this  Society,  for  the  year  ending  April, 
1850,  amounted  to  £111,685  13s.  6c?.,  or  $540,560,  and  the 
expenditure  for  the  same  term  to  £109,168  10s.  Id.  The 
leceipts  exhibit  a  large  increase  o\er  those  of  the  previous  year. 

15 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

MISSIONS  OF  THE  SCOTTISH  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES. 

In  Scotland,  as  in  all  other  thoroughly  Protestant  lands,  the 
revival  of  evangelical  religion  after  a  long  period  of  formalism 
and  inaction,  was  closely  followed  by  a  manifestation  of  the 
missionary  spirit.  The  epoch  of  this  manifestation  was  coeval 
with  the  foundation  of  the  great  benevolent  enterprises  in 
other  parts  of  Great  Britain.  It  was  in  the  year  lYOG,  and 
under  the  presidency  of  the  venerable  Dr.  Erskine,  that 
missionary  societies  were  first  instituted  in  Glasgow  and  Edin- 
burgh. An  overture  was  forthwith  transmitted  to  the  General 
Assembly,  praying  that  body  to  take  into  consideration  "by 
what  means  the  Church  of  Scotland  might  most  effectually  con- 
tribute to  the  diffusion  of  the  Gospel  over  the  world  ;"  and 
soHciting  the  recommendation  of  a  "general  collection  through- 
out the  Church,  to  aid  the  several  societies  for  propagating 
the  Gospel  among  the  heathen  nations."  It  is  difficult  to 
believe  that  a  proposition  so  natural  and  so  entirely  in  accor- 
dance with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  should  have  been  received 
m  the  high  ecclesiastical  court  of  Scotland  with  the  most  bitter 
opposition,  from  the  prevailing  Moderate  party ;  and  that  after 
much  abuse  of  the  cause  which  it  advocated,  the  motion  met 
with  a  complete  defeat. 

Thirty  years  elapsed  before  another  effort  was  made.  Mean- 
while the  societies  instituted  at  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh  contin- 
ued in  existence ;   but  their  means  were  comparatively  small 


CIiniSTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER  839 

and  tlieir  energies  contracted.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Inglis  was  the 
distinguished  and  successful  advocate  of  the  missionary  cause  ia 
the  Church  of  Scotland.  His  eminent  position  secured  for  the 
subject  a  respectful  consideration.  "  A  Committee  was  appointed,'* 
says  Hetherington,  "  to  consider  and  report  on  the  subject ;  and 
in  1S2G  a  Pastoral  Address  to  the  people  of  Scotland,  from  the 
pen  of  Dr.  Inglis,  appeared,  and  tended  powerfully  to  direct  the 
attention  of  the  Kingdom  to  the  sacred  duty  of  propagating  the 
Gospel  among  the  heathen,  and  especially  in  India.  Collections 
were  made,  and  subscriptions  obtained,  till  a  sufficient  fund  was 
raised  to  enable  the  Committee  to  proceed  with  their  holy  enter- 
prise; and  at  length  in  1829,  Dr.  Duff,  the  first  missionary  ever 
sent  forth  by  any  national  Protestant  Church  in  its  corporate 
character,  left  his  native  land,  commissioned  by  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Scotland  to  convey  to  India  the  light  of  Gospel  truth, 
and  to  offer  for  her  acceptance  the  simple,  pure,  efficient,  and 
most  truly  apostolic  form  of  Christianity,  which  is  the  glory  and 
strength  of  the  Presbyterian  Church." 

The  succeeding  twelve  years  manifested  a  great  and  encour- 
aging progress  in  the  missionary  activity  of  the  Scottish  Church. 
In  1833,  it  supported  only  two  departments  or  "schemes"  of 
evangelical  labor,  those  of  Education  in  the  Highlands,  and 
Foreign  Missions;  and  the  amount  collected  for  these  objects 
was  about  £3,500.  Other  departments  were  gradually  added 
for  Home  Missions,  and  missions  in  the  colonies  and  among  the 
Jews;  and  in  1841,  the  total  sura  contributed  to  these  several 
purposes  was  more  than  £22,000. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  in 
separating  from  the  Establishment,  carried  with  her  almost  all 
the  missionaries,  and  most  of  the  missionary  spirit,  of  Scotland. 
The  veteran  soldiers  of  the  Cross  who  had  labored  for  many 
years  in  heathen  lands,  clung  to  the  cause  of  pure  and  indepen- 
dent religion  at  home,  with  all  the  ardor  of  a  holy  patriotism. 
Wilson,  Duff,  and  others  whose  names  are  well  known  and 


340  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

honored  in  the  field  have  adhered  to  the  Free  Church  of  Scot- 
land. 

We  proceed  to  specify  some  of  the  missionary  organizations 
which  are  now  in  operation  in  Scotland. 

1  The  Glasgow  Missionary/  Society  commenced  soon  after 
the  London  Missionary  Society,  in  1795,  with  which  it  held 
early  connection  in  a  mission  to  the  Foulah  tribe  on  the  western 
coast  of  Africa.  For  a  number  of  years  it  was  unable  to  effect 
anything  further  than  aiding  the  funds  of  other  societies — until 
an  opening  occurred  in  1821,  in  Southern  Africa,  where  the 
colonial  government  had  made  peace  with  the  Caffre  tribes  that 
lie  without  the  boundaries  of  the  Cape  Colony,  and  the  chief 
Gaika  had  shown  a  desire  of  obtaining  missionaries  for  his 
people.  Rev.  H.  Thompson,  of  the  Glasgow  University,  and  his 
associate  Mr.  Bennie,  therefore  proceeded  to  Southern  Africa  to 
act  with  Mr.  Brownlee,  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  who 
had  lately  been  appointed  by  the  colonial  government  as  a 
missionary  to  the  CafFres ;  the  Gaika  having  made  it  one  of  the 
conditions  of  peace  that  missionaries  should  reside  in  his  coun- 
try. This  Society  soon  established  a  printing  press,  and  furnished 
themselves  and  the  London  missionaries  with  several  books  in 
the  Caflfre  language.  Li  1831,  they  had  75  scholars  from 
among  the  natives,  all  dressed  in  European  style;  and  the 
missionaries  had  translated  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  Their  sys- 
tem of  education  was  the  same  as  that  employed  by  the 
"Society  for  teaching  the  native  Irish  to  read  their  own  lan- 
guage," that  is  all  who  can  read  are  employed  to  teach  their 
neighbor  at  so  much  per  head,  and  without  any  apparatus 
beyond  books.  Besides  this  system,  the  Glasgow  Society  has 
ten  schools,  four  of  which,  in  1841,  were  taught  by  natives.  Its 
receipts,  for  the  year  1846,  were  £l,G7l  195.  9c?.,  or  $8,095. 

2.  The  Edinburgh  Missionari/  Society  was  established  in 
1*796.  Its  first  mission  was  in  Jamaica  ;  but  the  largest,  and  for 
a  time  the  most  successful  of  its  undertakin^cs,  was  amono-  the 


AND    REGISTER.  341 

Tartar  tribes  on  the  borders  of  the  Black  and  Caspian  Seas.  In 
1825,  however,  by  the  jealousy  of  the  Russian  government,  the 
missionaries  were  driven  from  these  territories,  and  the  mission 
has  been  given  up. 

This  Society  has  since  been  known  as  the  Scottish  Mission- 
art/  Societi/.  It  has  rehnqnished  to  the  EstabHshed  and  Seces- 
sion Churches,  its  missions  in  India  and  Jamaica ;  and  it  is,  we 
believe,  no  longer  in  active  operation. 

3.  EstaUished  Church  of  Scotland. — In  India,  the  missions 
of  the  Established  Church  are  at  Calcutta,  Bombay,  Madras, 
and  Ghospara.  These  missions  are  principally  directed,  hke  those 
of  the  Free  Church,  to  the  education  of  the  young,  as  a  work 
preparatory  to  the  great  object  of  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 
At  Calcutta,  the  mission  institution  has  at  present  an  average 
attendance  of  1,021  pupils.  The  Bengali  chapel  is  open  three 
days  every  week ;  the  Sunday  evening  service  is  attended  by 
thirty  to  fifty  Hindus.  The  missionaries  of  this  station  are  three 
— Messrs.  Anderson,  Ogilvie  and  Hurdman.  At  Madras,  five 
missionaries  are  stationed ;  the  institution  contains  about  690 
scholars.  The  Bombay  mission,  founded  in  1828  by  the  Scottish 
Missionary  Society,  was  transferred  in  1835  to  the  care  of  the 
General  Assembly.  It  is  now  occupied  by  two  missionaries? 
with  two  female  assistants,  who  are  supported  by  a  Ladies'  As- 
sociation. The  number  of  pupils  in  the  schools  is  370.  At 
the  station  of  Ghospara,  occupied  by  two  native  assistants,  there 
is  a  flourishing  school  of  fifty  pupils.  The  Indian  missions  of 
the  Established  Church,  therefore,  are  prosecuted  by  ten 
missionaries  and  four  assistants ;  and  the  number  of  pupils  in 
the  institutions  is  2,131.  Under  the  Colonial  Scheme  of  the 
Assembly  are  included  missions  in  British  North  America, 
Grenada,  Mauritius,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand ;  and  among 
the  Jews,  in  London,  Carlsruhe,  Gibraltar  and  Cochin,  the 
Church  employs  four  missionaries,  and  three  female  assistants. 


342  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

The  expenditures  of  the  last  year,  for  these  three  departments  of 
foreign  labor,  amounted  to  £10,591  or  $5 1,2 GO. 

4.  The  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  likewise,  devotes  most  of 
its  energies  in  the  foreign  work  to  its  missions  in  India,  and  partic- 
ularly to  the  education  of  the  young.  Its  missions  are  at  Calcutta, 
with  the  out- stations  of  Culna,  Baranagar,  and  Bransberia ;  at 
Bombay  ;  at  Madras,  with  the  out-stations  of  Conjeverara,  Trip- 
licane,  and  Chingleput;  at  Puna,  with  the  out-stations,  of  Inda- 
pur  and  Kotrur  ;  and  at  Nagpore  and  Kampti.  The  Calcutta 
mission  is  occupied  by  five  missionaries,  with  four  native  cate- 
chists,  and  a  large  number  of  assistants.  At  the  head  of  the 
mission  institution  is  the  venerable  and  excellent  Dr.  Duff;  the 
number  of  pupils  in  the  several  educational  establishments  is 
about  two  thousand.  At  the  Bombay  mission,  three  missionaries, 
among  whom  is  Dr.  Wilson,  with  two  native  missionaries,  are 
laboring.  About  twelve  hundred  children  are  receiving  in- 
struction. The  Madras  mission  employs  five  missionaries  and 
several  rfative  assistants  ;  ten  schools  are  educating  about  four- 
teen hundred  youth.  At  Puna,  with  its  stations,  there  are 
three  missionaries,  with  one  European  and  nine  native  assistants  ; 
the  number  of  communicants  is  twenty-eight ;  and  of  pupils 
about  six  hundred.  At  Nagpore  and  Kampti,  one  missionary, 
two  teachers,  and  four  native  assistants  are  laboring ;  about  six 
hundred  pupils  attend  the  schools.  In  South  Africa,  the  Free 
Church  has  missions  at  Cape  Town,  Lovedale,  Burnshill  and 
Pirie.  At  Cape  Town  are  two  missionaries  and  one  assistant ; 
at  Lovedale,  three  missionaries  and  two  native  assistants  ;  at 
Burnshill,  one  missionary  and  two  assistants ;  and  at  Pirie,  one 
missionary,  one  female  teacher,  and  one  assistant :  making  on 
the  whole  seven  missionaries  and  seven  assistants.  In  Caffi-e- 
land  no  fewer  than  sixty-three  of  the  natives  applied  to  the 
missionaries  for  baptism  at  one  time.  At  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  the  average  attendance  upon  Christian  instruction  is  five 
hundred,  and  the  number  on  the  roll  is  about  nine  hundred. 


AND    REGISTER.  343 

Among  the  Jews,  the  Free  Church  has  missions  at  Constantino- 
ple, Pesth,  Berlin,  and  Lemburg.  The  total  number  of 
missionaries  supported  by  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  at  its 
various  stations,  is  thirty-seven  ;  with  fifty-seven  native  ministers 
and  preachers.  About  six  thousand  youth  are  receiving  Chris- 
tian instruction  in  connection  with  its  mission  institutions.  The 
total  expenditure  for  the  last  year,  including  the  aid  afforded  to 
colonial  churches,  amounted  to  £20,802  25.  2<^.,  or  $100,681. 

5.  The  United  Secession  Church,  composed  of  the  Seces- 
sion and  Relief  Churches,  which  united  some  years  ago,  has 
missions  in  Canada,  Jamaica,  Trinidad,  Western  and  South 
Africa,  Persia,  and  Australia.  The  mission  in  Canada  was 
commenced  in  1832.  Twenty-eight  missionaries,  under  whose 
care  are  about  four  thousand  church  members,  are  connected 
with  it.  The  Jamaica  Mission  was  lately  transferred  to  the  Se- 
cession Church  by  the  Scottish  Missionary  Society.  In  1847, 
there  were  thirteen  stations,  with  more  than  a  thousand  mem- 
bers, and  fifteen  young  natives  preparing  for  missionary  labor. 
The  stations  in  West  Africa  are  two,  in  Calabar.  The  mission 
was  undertaken  in  1846  by  three  missionaries.  In  South  Africa, 
three  stations  and  two  out-stations  are  occupied  by  two  mis- 
sionaries, with  one  female  teacher,  and  eight  native  assistants. 
Thei  income  of  the  Missions  of  the  United  Recession  Church  was, 
in  1847,  £9,322  135.  Id.,  or  $45,125. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland  sustains  a  mission  in 
India,  founded  in  1841,  at  the  stations  of  Rajkot,  Gogo,  and 
Surat,  occupied  by  six  missionaries  and  two  native  assistants. 
We  have  no  further  particulars  respecting  its  operations. 

The  Presbyterians  of  England,  also,  have  been  doing  some- 
thing in  the  way  of  sustaining  foreign  missions.  At  Canton, 
China,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Burns,  sent  out  by  them,  has  entered  upon 
the  occupancy  of  the  premises  vacated  by  the  London  Mission- 
ary Society,  and  carries  on  the  Chinese  services,  with  the  aid  of 
several  native  preachers. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


The  French  Evangelical  Missionary  Society  was  formed  in 
the  year  1822,  by  members  of  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran 
Churches  in  France,  together  with  several  excellent  English  and 
American  Christians,  among  whom  were  Daniel  AVilson,  now 
Bishop  of  Calcutta,  and  Jonas  King,  the  missionary  at  Athens. 
The  object  of  the  new  organization,  whose  title  was  the  "  Society 
of  Evangelical  Missions  among  non-Christian  nations,"  was  two- 
fold :  the  establishment  of  an  institution  for  the  education  of 
young  men  as  missionaries  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  support  of 
these  and  other  laborers  in  heathen  lands.  It  began  by  sus- 
taining Mr.  King  as  its  missionary  in  Jerusalem,  but  that  gen- 
tleman soon  connected  himself  with  the  American  Board.  The 
educational  institution,  founded  by  the  Society,  was  placed  un- 
der the  care  of  M.  Gallaud  and  subsequently  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Grandpierre.  From  among  the  students  educated  in  it,  the 
Society  selected,  in  1829,  its  first  missionaries  to  the  heathen, — 
Prosper  Lemue,  Isaac  Bisseux,  and  Samuel  Rollaud.  They 
were  ordained  on  the  2d  of  May,  and  shortly  after  left  for  their 
sphere  of  labor.  The  field  chosen  by  the  Society  was  South 
Africa ;  and,  in  a  speech  at  the  second  anniversary  of  the  Society, 
the  following  statement  was  made  by  its  president,  respecting 
this  selection.  "  It  is  worthy  of  observation,  that,  in  the  part  of 
Africa  whither  our  young  brethren  are  proceeding,  there  are,  at 
some  distance  from  Cape  Town,  a  number  of  families  descended 
from  former  French  refugees,  who  quitted  their  country  and 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER.  345 

home  for  the  preservation  of  their  faith.  The  Dutch  East  In- 
dia Company  granted  them  a  considerable  portion  of  land, 
where  they  formed  for  themselves  a  new  country.  Our  young 
brethren  will  be  received  by  them  with  kindred  affection." 

In  this  connection,  a  statement  made  in  the  last  annual  re- 
port of  this  Society,  is  of  peculiar  interest.  During  the  pecuni- 
ary difficulties  of  the  mission,  at  the  time  of  the  recent  revolu- 
tion in  France,  when  the  resources  of  the  Society  were  in  a  great 
measure  cut  off,  the  Dutch  Reformed  Synod  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  determined  to  render  it  assistance,  and  sent  a  depu- 
tation to  visit  the  stations  of  the  mission.  One  of  the  deputies 
was  the  descendant  of  a  family  of  French  refugees,  who  had 
emigrated  to  the  Cape  in  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  They  re- 
ported to  the  Synod  in  the  following  favorable  terms  : — "  The 
undersigned  have  not  only  attended  public  services  at  many  of 
the  stations,  but  besides,  they  have  visited  the  native  Christians 
in  their  houses,  and  have  examined  a  considerable  number  of 
pupils  in  one  of  the  schools,  all  without  the  possibilit}^  of  any 
of  them  having  learned  beforehand  of  this  visit.  Consequently 
they  have  received  the  most  favorable  impression  from  what 
they  have  seen  in  this  very  important  and  interesting  mission, 
and  they  would  regard  it  as  a  deplorable  calamity  that  the 
country  of  the  Bassutos  should  ever,  in  any  manner,  be  deprived 
of  the  labors  of  these  excellent  and  truly  devoted  men."  To 
this  honorable  testimony  we  add  that  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society  : — "  Amongst  all  the  men  that  have 
labored  in  South  Africa,  the  French  Protestant  ministers  have 
toiled  with  singular  consistency,  and  have  been  honored  by  God 
with  most  abundant  success." 

The  first  president  of  the  French  Missionary  Society  was  the 
distinguished  Count  Ver-Huell,  admiral  and  peer  of  France, 
who  continued  in  this  office  deeply  interested  and  actively  en- 
gaged in  its  service  until  his  death,  about  eight  years  since. 
Among  the  first  students  who  were  graduated  at  the  missionary 

15^ 


346  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

institution,  was  Mr.  Gobat,  for  many  years  a  missionar/  ;f  the 
Cliurch  Missionary  Society,  and  now  Bishop  of  Jerusalem. 

The  missions  of  the  Society  in  South  Africa  are  chiefly  among 
the  Bechuana  and  Bassuto  tribes.  The  stations  are  those  of 
Carmel,  BclhuHa,  Beersheba,  Bethesda,  Moriah,  Berea,  lliaba- 
Bossiou,  WeHington,  Motito,  and  Mekuathng.  The  riunr.ber  of 
communicants  is  1,185,  of  scholars  350,  of  attendants  upon 
public  worship  2,240.  The  number  of  missionaries  is  ten,  with 
four  assistants.  The  receipts  of  the  Society  for  the  year  1849— 
50  amounted  to  136,1  YSfr.,  or  $25,600.  It  was  indebted  at 
that  period  to  the  amount  of  88,868fr. 

The  Rhenish  Missionary  Society  in  Germany,  was  formed  in 
1828  by  a  union  of  three  smaller  associations.  One  of  these,  the 
Barmen  Missionary  Society,  had  published  a  missionary  gazette, 
of  which  20,000  copies  were  in  circulation ;  and  had  for  three 
years  maintained  a  missionary  seminary.  These  came  under  the 
charge  of  the  united  society.  The  other  societies  were  those  jf 
Cologne  and  Wesel.  Different  local  associations  have  united 
with  it,  to  the  number  of  fifty,  who  meet  by  their  delegates 
annually,  and  intrust  the  management  to  a  committee  of  twelve, 
meeting  once  a  month  or  oftener ;  while  the  executive  power  is 
vested  almost  exclusively  in  a  single  officer  known  as  the  inspec- 
tor of  the  Mission-house. 

The  first  missionaries  were  sent  to  South  Africa,  in  1829. 
There  were  four  of  them,  one  a  physician,  and  they  founded 
three  stations.  One  of  these  combines  instruction  in  the  arts  of 
civilization  as  well  as  in  Christianity,  a  company  of  German 
mechanics  having  been  introduced  to  aid  in  diffusing  various  sorts 
of  handicraft  among  the  people.  In  this  way  the  station  was 
made  self-supporting,  but  some  of  these  colonists  have  set  bad 
examples  to  the  natives,  and  the  Society  has  felt  obliged  to  desist 
from  further  colonization  of  this  kind.  In  1830  two  other  sta- 
tions were  founded.  Each  station  is  regularly  organized  with 
a  complete  system  of  ecclesiastical  government  modelled  after 


AND    REGISTER.  $47 

the  Presbyterian  discipline,  schools  are  maintained,  and  mission- 
ary associations  formed  to  lead  the  people  to  contribute  accord- 
ing to  their  ability. 

In  1840  the  Society  extended  its  operations  to  the  northern 
limits  of  Cape  Colony,  where  three  stations  were  established,  and 
seven  stations  have  been  formed  still  further  northward  in  the 
interior  of  the  country.  The  missionaries  have  found  extreme 
difficulty  in  acquiring  the  native  languages,  and  in  contending 
with  the  wandering  habits  of  the  people ;  while  the  tyranny  of 
the  Dutch  Boors  follows  the  natives,  threatening  to  deprive  them 
of  their  land  as  fast  as  they  bring  it  into  cultivation. 

They  had  succeeded  in  forming  several  prosperous  communi- 
ties; but  in  the  autumn  of  last  year — 1850 — the  hostihties  of 
the  neighboring  tribe  of  Namaquas  being  provoked,  a  dreadful 
massacre  took  place.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Hahn,  missionary  of  this 
society  at  New  Barmen,  wrote  on  the  6th  of  September :  "  The 
whole  country  is  in  ferment,  and  the  excitement  has  risen  to  a 
higher  pitch  than  ever.  Our  mission  among  the  Ovaherero  is 
on  the  brink  of  destruction.  The  23d  of  last  month,  Jonker 
Afrikander  fell  upon  the  Kahitjane  (Weerligt)  who  lived  on  Mr. 
Kolbe's  station,  Schuslen's  Ewartung.  Numbers  were  killed, 
and  cold-hearted  cruelties  committed  to  which  you  will  find 
scarcely  any  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  most  barbarous 
nations."  By  the  latest  intelligence,  we  hear  that  the  whole 
colony  is  in  a  state  of  disturbance,  and  the  British  government 
will  probably  be  compelled  to  increase  the  military  forces  already 
there,  before  quiet  can  be  restored.  Of  course,  nothing  could  be 
more  unpropitious  to  missionary  labors. 

In  1834,  a  mission  was  established  on  the  island  of  Borneo, 
to  which,  in  all,  eleven  missionaries  have  been  sent.  Some  have 
died,  and  others  compelled  by  the  unhealthiness  of  the  climate 
have  withdrawn,  leaving  only  five  in  the  field.  They  have 
translated  the  New  Testament,  and  collected  500  pupils  in  the 
mission  schools.     In  1835-39  ineflfectual  attempts  were  made  to 


348  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

establish  a  mission  among  the  Oregon  Indians,  and  on  their  fail- 
ure the  persons  who  Tere  sent  out  settled  in  this  country  as  pastors, 
in  communities  of  German  emigrants.  In  1847  a  mission  was 
established  in  China,  to  which  three  missionaries  have  been  sent. 

The  London  Evangelical  Christendom  furnishes  this  summary 
of  the  Society's  operations: — It  supports  twenty-five  stations, 
with  several  out-stations,  in  South-eastern  Africa,  Borneo  and 
China.  It  has  sent  out  fifty  missionaries,  mostly  married,  of 
whom  seven  have  died.  It  has  a  mission-house,  where  mission- 
ary candidates  are  educated,  ten  at  a  time.  Annual  missionary 
meetings  are  held  in  all  the  congregations  connected  with  the 
Society,  and  missionary  prayer-meetings  monthly.  Periodical 
reports  are  published  once  in  two  weeks,  besides  the  Annual 
Report.  In  Borneo  and  China,  the  work  of  their  missionaries 
is  of  a  preparatory  kind,  from  which  no  important  results,  as  yet, 
have  been  obtained ;  in  Africa  there  are  over  4,000  nominal 
Christians,  and  about  1,400  communicants,  connected  with  their 
churches.* 

The  income  of  the  Rhenish  Missionary  Society,  for  the  year 
1848-9,  was  about  $25,630. 

Missionary  Institute  and  Society  of  Basle. — The  origin  of  this 
institution  and  society  possesses  unusual  historical  interest.  In 
the  year  1815,  after  the  escape  of  Bonaparte  from  Elba,  a  large 
army  of  Russians  and  Austrians,  under  the  allied  powers,  having 
crossed  Germany,  arrived  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  near  Basle. 
A  powerful,  but  inferior,  French  force  occupied  the  strong  fortress 
of  Hiiningen,  on  the  frontier  of  France,  at  the  distance  of  but 
little  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half  from  that  city.  The  arch- 
duke John,  who  commanded  the  combined  forces,  having  taken 
possession  of  the  portion  of  the  city  north  of  the  Rhine,  pre- 
pared to  cross  the  bridge  which  unites  it  to  the  southern  and 
larger  part.  The  French  commandant  was  fully  aware  of  the 
advantage  which  the  possession  of  that  point  would  give  the  in- 
*  Baptist  Missionary  Magazine. 


AKD    REGISTER.  349 

vaders,  and  prepared  to  prevent  it  by  a  heavy  cannonade.  At 
that  critical  and  awful  moment,  when  the  inhabitants  of  Basle 
beheld  themselves  about  to  be  placed  between  two  fires,  and  in 
danger  of  becoming  a  prey  to  both,  the  magistrates  hastened  to 
implore  the  Austrian  general  to  desist  from  his  undertaking,  and 
represented  to  him  the  certain  ruin  of  their  city  (which  was 
entirely  neutral)  should  the  battle  proceed.  To  his  everlastino- 
honor,  the  archduke  ordered  the  incipient  firing  to  cease, 
marched  his  forces  up  the  Rhine,  crossed  that  river  a  few  miles 
above,  and  came  down  upon  the  French  from  the  south.  This 
movement  led  the  French  general  to  change  his  position  also ; 
and  so  Basle  escaped  destruction. 

The  good  people  of  the  city,  who  now  flocked  to  the  churches 
to  express  their  gratitude  to  Almighty  God  for  their  preserva- 
tion, were  naturally  led  to  inquire,  in  what  manner  they  might 
testify  their  gratitude  for  this  signal  interposition  in  their  behalf. 
It  was  finally  resolved  to  found  a  school  at  which  missionaries 
might  be  trained,  who  might  go  into  Russia  to  instruct  the  poor 
ignorant  Cossacks,  of  whom  many  thousands  had  just  passed  by 
their  city.  In  a  few  months  a  seminary  was  opened,  and  several 
pious  young  men  were  engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
studies  for  the  ministry.  Contemporaneous  with  the  rise  of  the 
Basle  Institution  was  the  origin  of  the  Basle  Missionary  Society, 
to  employ  those  who  had  been  trained  for  the  enterprise  of 
carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  destitute. 

The  first  young  men  who  left  the  Institute  finished  their  stud- 
ies in  the  summer  of  1818.  Since  that  time,  that  is  to  say, 
within  the  last  thirty -two  years,  more  than  two  hundred  minis- 
ters of  the  Gospel  have  left  its  sacred  walls  to  carry  the  glorious 
tidings  of  salvation  to  the  four  corners  of  the  globe ;  of  whom 
about  one  hundred  and  sixty  are  yet  alive,  and  about  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  are  laboring  in  foreign  lands;  the  rest  are 
preaching  Christ  within  the  pale  of  Christendom.  And  whilst 
many  of  these  heralds  of  salvation  are  supported  on  the  field 


S50  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

by  the  Basle  Missionary  Society,  a  greater  number  have  been 
employed  by  other  societies.  At  our  latest  accounts,  fifty-two 
were  in  the  employ  of  the  English  Church  Missionary  Society, 
and  twenty-nine  under  the  Basle  Society  itself.''^ 

The  missions  of  the  Basle  Society,  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  in- 
dicate them,  are  located  in  India,  Western  Africa,  China,  and 
Assam.  In  India,  its  stations  are  fifteen  in  number,  with  several 
out-stations.  The  principal  of  these  are  Mangalore,  Calicut,  and 
Dacca.  The  first  was  commenced  in  1834  ;  the  other  stations 
are  of  more  recent  date.  The  number  of  miasionanes  in  this 
field  is  thirty-four,  with  several  assistants  and  native  catechists. 
In  nearly  all  the  stations  there  are  flourishing  schools,  the  total 
number  of  whose  scholars  is  upwards  of  seventeen  hundred.  In 
China,  a  mission  was  begun  under  the  Society  in  1847,  in  the 
province  of  Quangtung,  by  two  missionaries,  besides  several  na- 
tive preachers.  They  are  laboring  in  connection  with  the  Chi- 
nese Missionary  Association,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Gutzlaff. 
In  Assam,  a  mission  was  commenced  at  Tezpoor,  in  1848,  by 
two  missionaries.  In  Western  Africa,  three  stations — at  Akro- 
pong,  Danish  Accra,  and  Abude — are  occupied  by  seven  mission- 
aries with  assistants.     The  schools  contain  267  pupils. 

Two  of  the  missionaries  of  this  Society  deserve  particular 
mention.  The  distinguished  Gobat,  whom  we  have  named  as 
among  the  first  graduates  of  the  Paris  Institute,  is  a  native  of 
the  canton  of  Berne,  and  studied  for  some  time  at  the  Institute 
of  Basle.  The  other  is  Lacroix,  who  has  been  laboring  more 
than  thirty  years  in  India,  in  the  employ  of  the  London  Mission- 
ary Society.  He  is  a  man  of  admirable  talents  and  spirit.  Few 
men  in  India  are  his  equals.  We  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
much  of  him,  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1842,  during  a 
visit  which  he  made  to  his  native  Switzerland. 

The  income  of  the  Basle  Missionary  Society,  for  the  year 
1848-9,  was  about  $54,000. 

*  The  Missionary  MEiioaiAL  :  in  an  article  ly  the  author  of  this  work 


CHAPTEE  XX. 

MISSIONS   OF   THE   UNITED   BRETHEEN  AND   THE 
SMALLER  GERMAN  SOCIETIES. 

The  United  Brethren  seem  early  to  have  been  actuated  by  a 
desire  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  among  the  hea- 
then. It  was  in  1732  that  it  was  first  resolved  in  the  small 
colony  of  Herrnhut,  to  send  missionaries  abroad  ;  and  three  of 
the  brethren,  Christian  David,  Matthew  Stach,  and  Christian 
Stach,  offered  themselves  for  the  work.  Having  obtained  the 
approval  of  the  community,  they  repaired  in  1733  to  Copen- 
hagen, and  there  received  permission  from  the  Danish  govern- 
ment to  undertake  a  mission  in  Greenland  ;  where,  however, 
some  Danish  missionaries  had  previously  been  laboring.  The 
expenses  of  their  voyage  were  generously  defrayed  by  some 
friends,  and  they  reached  the  field  of  their  labors  after  a  pros- 
perous trip.  The  success  of  the  mission,  however,  during  the 
first  few  years,  did  not  realize  the  anticipations  they  had  formed : 
not  only  were  the  laborers  exposed  to  much  physical  suffering 
and  to  many  privations,  but  they  encountered  more  obstinate 
obstacles  in  the  prejudices  and  malevolence  of  the  natives,  from 
whom  they  were  sometimes  even  in  danger  of  assassination.  It 
was  five  years,  therefore,  before  the  missionaries  had  occasion  to 
rejoice  over  Kayarnak,  the  first  native  convert.  The  cause  of 
the  Gospel  began  to  advance  gradually  in  Greenland,  especially 
through  the  efforts  of  the  native  community  of  New  Herrnhut; 
and  presently  a  spirit  of  inquiry  was  diffused  even  into  distant 


352  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

places.  The  baptized  Greenlanders  ou  their  excursions  in  quest 
of  food,  were  met  by  their  anxious  countrymen,  who  entreated 
them  to  instruct  them  in  the  things  of  God ;  and  constrained 
them  to  delay  their  journey  that  they  might  hear  the  glad  ti- 
dings more  fully  announced  and  explained.  In  1Y4.Y,  the  first 
Moravian  church  was  erected  at  New  Herrnhut ;  and  this  col- 
ony contained  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  Greenlanders,  of 
whom  thirty-five  had  been  baptized  in  the  course  of  that  year. 
In  1752,  during  an  extremely  severe  winter,  beside  the  miseries 
of  a  famine,  a  dreadful  disease  cut  off  thirty-five  of  the  new 
converts. 

Another  mission  was  established  in  1758,  by  Matthew  Stach 
and  two  new  laborers  from  Europe,  in  a  more  southern  latitude 
than  New  Herrnhut ;  and  received  the  appellation  of  Lichten- 
fels.  Here  they  subsequently  erected  a  mission-house  and 
chapel.  From  this  time  the  Moravian  missions  commenced  to 
flourish,  and  there  were  annually  added  to  the  church  about 
thirty  or  forty  persons  by  baptism;  and  in  1768  a  revival  oc- 
curred in  which  about  two  hundred  persons  were  added  to  the 
church.  In  1774,  a  new  and  most  important  station  was  estab- 
lished at  Lichtenau,  about  four  hundred  miles  south  of  Lichten- 
fels,  in  the  midst  of  a  numerous  population.  About  this  time, 
too,  additional  attention  began  to  be  paid  to  the  translation  of 
the  Scriptures  and  other  works.  The  progress  of  the  mission  in 
Greenland  was  greatly  hindered  during  a  nuftiber  of  years  fal- 
lowing, both  from  the  severity  of  the  seasons  and  from  the  em- 
barrassments arising  from  the  war  between  Great  Britain  and 
Denmark. 

The  missions  of  the  United  Brethren  in  the  "^est  Indies  were 
commenced  in  1732,  by  Leonard  Dober,  at  St.  Thomas.  The 
first  years  of  the  mission  were  not  prosperous,  the  laborers  who 
had  been  sent  to  reinforce  the  station,  being  cut  off  by  the  un- 
healthiness  of  the  climate.  They  were  succeeded,  however,  by 
othar?,  in  1 736,  who  soon  had  occasion  to  rejoice  over  "the 


AND    REGISTER.  36S 

Grot-liuits  of  the  slaves"  in  the  island.  The  next  year  they  pur- 
chased a  small  plantation,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  New 
Herrnhiit. 

In  1739,  Count  Zinzendorf  visited  the  island,  accompanied  by 
1.W0  missionaries.  He  found  the  Brethren  in  prison,  upon  un- 
founded charges  advanced  by  the  enemies  of  religion ;  but  he 
soon  succeeded  in  securing  their  liberation.  The  religious  in- 
terest among  the  negroes,  at  this  period,  greatly  increased.  An- 
other plan*.ation  was  purchased  in  1753,  which  was  called  Nies- 
ley,  and  at  this  place  also  the  Gospel  was  preached  with  great 
success. 

To  the  island  of  St.  Croix  a  number  of  missionaries  were  sent 
in  1734;  but  the  climate  proved  so  unfavorable  that  several 
died,  and  the  mission  was  given  up.  A  second  attempt,  in 
1740,  likewise  failed.  But  in  1753,  George  Ohneberg,  with 
two  others,  resumed  the  work  with  great  success.  Two  estates 
were  purchased,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  ill  effects  of  the 
climate,  the  subsequent  condition  of  the  mission  was  highly 
favorable.  Missionaries  were  stationed  at  the  island  of  St.  Jan 
but  a  few  years  after  the  establishment  of  the  St.  Croix  mission, 
having  been  invited  over  from  St.  Thomas  by  an  overseer  on 
one  of  the  plantations,  who  was  solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  the 
negroes. 

At  Jamaica  the  first  missionaries  arrived  in  1754,  in  com- 
pliance with  a  request  from  several  of  the  proprietors,  who  be- 
came responsible  for  their  support,  and  furnished  them  with  a 
house  and  land.  The  early  history  was  prosperous,  but  was 
clouded  for  a  time  by  differences  between  some  of  the  mission- 
aries. In  1804,  at  the  end  of  fifty  years,  938  negroes  bad  been 
baptized.  In  Antigua,  a  mission  was  commenced  two  years 
after  that  at  Jamaica,  but  was,  for  several  years,  quite  unsuc- 
cesssful.  In  1769,  however,  the  labors  of  the  missionary, 
Brown,  resulted  in  a  revival  of  zeal  and  piety,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing years  a  number  of  conversions  took  place.     The  first  efforts 


354  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

made  in  the  island  of  Barbadocs  were  also  unftivorable,  and  did 
not  reach  any  high  degree  of  prosperity  until  the  commence- 
ment of  this  century.  In  17  77,  a  mission  was  undertaken  at 
St.  Christopher's. 

The  labors  of  the  Brethren  in  North  America  among  the  In- 
dian tribes  have  been  less  fortunate.  They  were  commenced 
in  l7o5,  in  Georgia.  Nearly  every  station,  however,  has  been 
disturbed  and  broken  up. 

In  South  America,  the  missions  in  Surinam,  Dutch  Guiana, 
were  undertaken  about  the  year  1738.  During  the  first  ten 
years,  but  thirty-nine  were  admitted  to  the  Church.  The  mis- 
sionaries prosecuted  their  work  with  great  diligence,  but  were 
compelled  at  last  to  abandon  their  first  stations;  and,  in  1777, 
founded  the  stations  at  Paramaribo  and  the  vicinity.  The  prog- 
ress of  the  work,  though  not  rapid,  appears  to  have  been  steady, 
and  the  converts  manifested  much  sincerity  and  firmness  in 
their  attachment  to  the  truth.  This  mission,  as  we  shall  see, 
is  now  one  of  the  most  flourishing  under  the  care  of  the  United 
Brethren. 

The  first  attempts  to  establish  a  mission  in  Labrador  were 
made  in  l7o2,  but  nothing  permanent  appears  to  have  been 
effected  until  1770,  when  the  grant  of  a  tract  of  land  was  made 
to  the  United  Brethren  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  mission 
among  the  Esquimaux.  Messrs.  Haven,  Drachart,  and  Jensen 
sailed  from  London  in  that  year,  and  were  soon  after  followed 
by  fourteen  other  missionaries.  To  the  station  which  they 
formed,  these  laborers  gave  the  name  of  Nain,  and  here  they 
quickly  erected  a  church.  Two  other  settlements  were  succes- 
sively undertaken  at  Okkah  and  Hopedale.  The  history  of  the 
Labrador  Mission  abounds  in  thrilling  incidents  of  perils  and 
deliverances,  and  in  instances  of  the  unaffected  piety  of  the  con- 
verts. On  the  9th  of  August,  1820,  a  semi-centennial  jubilee 
was  held  by  the  Brethren  at  the  expiration  of  the  fiftieth  year, 
since  the  foundation  of  the  mission. 


AND    REGISTER.  355 

la  South  Africa,  a  mission  was  begun,  in  1737,  by  George 
Schmidt,  among  the  Hottentots,  near  Serjeant's  River,  where  he 
labored  with  much  success,  and  estabhshed  a  school.  Having 
visited  Europe  a  few  years  subsequent,  the  jealousy  of  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company  prohibited  his  return.  The  station 
was  broken  up,  and  the  few  converts  dispersed.  At  length,  Iq 
1792,  the  mission  was  renewed  by  permission  of  the  Company, 
and  three  laborers  were  sent  out  who  established  themselves  at 
Bavian's  Kloof,  the  very  spot  where  Schmidt  had  preached  forty 
years  before.  On  the  conclusion  of  peace  between  Great  Brit- 
ain and  Holland,  the  colony  was  restored  to  the  latter,  and  the 
name  of  the  settlement  changed  to  Gnadenthal.  When  the 
colony,  in  1806,  was  transferred  to  Great  Britain,  the  mission 
remained  undisturbed,  and  stations  were  successively  planted  at 
Gruenckloof,  on  the  Witte  River,  at  Enon,  and  on  the  Klip- 
plaats  River. 

We  will  not  speak  in  detail  of  the  Sarepta  Mission  among 
the  Calmucks,  or  of  others,  which,  proving  unsuccessful,  have 
been  abandoned.  We  proceed  to  speak  of  the  present  condition 
of  the  mission  under  the  care  of  the  United  Brethren. 

The  long-established  stations  in  the  south  of  Africa  continue 
to  present  a  most  encouraging  aspect.  Upon  the  express  in- 
vitation of  the  Governor  of  the  Cape  Colony,  a  new  station  has 
been  founded  on  the  Beka,  among  a  tribe  of  CafFres  recently 
subjected  to  the  British  rule.  One  hundred  Christian  colonists 
from  Gnadenthal  have  removed  thither  to  form  this  new  settle- 
ment. The  Fingoes  and  Tambukkies,  at  the  station  Shiloh, 
have  made  great  progress.  They  are  assiduous  in  their  attend- 
ance upon  religious  worship.  Gnadenthal,  however,  continues 
to  be  the  most  prosperous  of  the  stations.  It  now  contains  over 
two  thousand  five  hundred  Hottentot  converts,  who,  though 
doubtless  not  free  from  defects,  afford  great  encouragement  to 
their  spiritual  leaders.  An  examination  entered  into  by  the 
Government,  in  consequence  of  calumnious  reports  circulated  by 


356  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

enemies  of  the  mission,  resulted  in  its  complete  vindication 
The  number  of  stations  in  the  Soutli  Africa  mission  is  nine,  oc- 
cupied by  twenty-seven  missionaries  and  four  assistants. 

In  Surinam,  the  total  number  of  negroes  who  are  under  the 
instruction  of  the  Brethren,  is  seventeen  thousand.  At  each  of 
the  stations  numerous  conversions  have  taken  place,  and  a  gen- 
eral desire  is  manifested  for  religious  knowledge.  The  Indians 
in  the  neighborhood  are  also  more  accessible  than  they  have 
ever  before  been.  The  Government  of  the  colony  has  shown 
great  fiivor  to  the  missionaries,  and  several  of  the  planters  have 
permitted  them  to  establish  schools  on  their  lands.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  the  number  of  laborers  is  inadequate  to  the  ex- 
tent of  the  work,  and  frequently  reduced  by  the  unhealthiness 
of  the  climate.  The  stations  are  nine  in  number,  and  the  mis- 
sionaries nineteen,  besides  seven  assistants,  and  five  laborers  who 
are  on  their  way  thither. 

The  missions  in  the  West  Indies  have  suffered  considerably 
from  the  commercial  crisis  of  the  country  and  the  gradual  im- 
poverishment of  the  inhabitants.  It  had  been  hoped  at  one 
time  that  the  churches  of  free  negroes  would  soon  become  able 
to  sustain  themselves ;  but  that  expectation  must,  for  the  pres- 
ent, be  given  up.  Their  zeal  has  even,  for  a  time,  appeared  to 
grow  languid ;  but  it  begins  to  be  reanimated,  and  to  manifest 
itself  in  a  renewed  assiduity  of  attendance  upon  Divine  worship. 
The  negroes  of  one  station  of  Jamaica  gave,  during  the  last  year, 
a  proof  of  disinterestedness  which  does  honor  to  their  faith.  In 
order  to  assist  in  the  erection  of  a  new  chapel,  they  of  their  own 
accord  agreed  to  furnish  among  themselves,  without  any  remu- 
neration, a  thousand  days  of  labor,  and  of  labor  as  difficult  as  it 
was  fatiguing.  The  number  of  stations  in  the  Danish  islands  is 
eight,  and  of  missionaries  twenty-six ;  in  Jamaica,  thirteen  sta- 
tions and  twenty-nine  missionaries ;  in  Antigua,  seven  stations 
and  twenty-one  missionaries ;  in  St.  Kitts,  seven  stations  and 
ten  missionaries  ;  in  Barbadoes,  four  stations  and  nine  mission- 


AND    REGISTER.  357 

aries ;  in  Tobago,  two  stations  and  five  missionaries ;  and  on 
the  Mosquito  Coast  one  station  with  four  missionaries. 

There  is  little  to  be  said  of  the  Brethren's  missions  among 
the  North  American  Indians.  The  only  stations  occupied  are 
those  of  Fairfield  and  Westfield  among  the  Delawares ;  New 
Springplace  and  Canaan  among  the  Cherokees ;  and  Woodstock 
Mills  m  Florida.  Thirteen  laborers  are  engaged  at  these  sta- 
tions. 

In  Labrador  and  Greenland,  the  work  is  prosecuted  silently 
but  successively.  A  heathen  tribe,  formerly  residing  at  Soeglek, 
has  removed  to  Hebron  for  the  sole  purpose  of  placing  itself 
under  Christian  influence.  Twenty-three  missionaries  are  labor- 
ing in  Greenland  at  four  stations ;  in  Labrador,  thirty  at  the 
same  number  of  stations. 

At  Port  Philip,  in  New  Holland,  two  missionaries  have  loca- 
ted themselves  recently  to  labor  among  the  natives.  This  mis- 
sion, and  that  on  the  Mosquito  Coast,  were  founded  in  the 
course  of  1849. 

The  total  number  of  missionaries  now  in  the  employ  of  the 
United  Brethren's  Missions,  is  two  hundred  and  eighty-two ; 
the  number  of  district  missions  is  thirteen,  and  of  principal  sta- 
tions sixty-nine.  The  reports  do  not  give  the  number  of  com- 
municants in  connection  with  the  various  missions.  In  1848, 
the  number  of  persons  under  the  spiritual  care  of  the  mission- 
aries amounted  to  nearly  sevent}^  thousand  souls.  The  receipts 
of  the  Missions,  for  the  year  1849,  amounted  to  $53,540. 

We  shall  now  glance  at  the  smaller  Missionary  Societies 
which  have  been  organized  in  Germany  and  the  neighboring 
countries. 

1.  The  Berlin  Missionary  Institute  and  Society  were  founded 
in  the  year  1800  by  members  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  The 
number  of  students  who,  up  to  1825,  had  been  educated  at  the 
Institute,  under  the  care  of  its  director  M.  Jaenicke,  was  forty. 
Many  active  and  excellent  missionaries  from  this  institution  have 


358  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

been  employed  at  different  times  by  various  associations ;  as  tho 
Ivotterdam  and  London  Jews'  Societies.  The  missions  of  the 
Berlin  Society  are :  In  South  Africa,  where  it  has  six  station:*, 
with  nine  missionaries;  and  in  India,  at  Ghazeepoor,  where  t\vo 
missionaries  are  laboring.     Receipts,  about  8lV,000. 

2.  Gosner'^s  Missionary  Society  at  Berlin,  was  established  by 
a  pious  pastor  whose  name  it  bears.  It  supports  missions  in 
Australia,  at  Moreton  Bay,  where  there  are  fourteen  mission- 
aries ;  and  in  New  Zealand,  at  Chatham  Island,  where  there  are 
five  missionaries.     Its  receipts  are  $3,630. 

3.  The  Dresden  Lutheran  Missionary  Society,  has  two  sta- 
tions in  New  Holland,  with  four  missionaries.  We  have  no 
account  of  its  other  missions.     Receipts,  $9,200. 

4.  The  Leijosic  Lutheran  Missionary  Society,  has  missions  in 
India,  at  Tranquebar,  Mayaveram  and  Poreiar  ;  with  six  mis- 
sionaries. There  have  been  baptized  137  Hindoos;  and  the 
schools  contain  one  thousand  scholars.     Receipts,  about  $8,000. 

5.  The  Hamburg  North-  German  Missionary  Society  supports, 
in  Western  Africa,  one  missionary  at  Cape  Coast ;  in  India, 
three  missionaries,  at  Rajamundry ;  and  in  New  Zealand,  two 
missionaries  with  two  assistants,  at  three  stations.  Mr.  Schmid, 
at  Ootacamuud,  in  Southern  India,  was  formerly  connected  with 
this  Society,  but  is  now  laboring  on  his  own  resources.  Receipts 
of  the  Hamburg  Society,  about  $5,000. 

In  Sweden,  there  is  a  Missionary  Society  at  Stockholm,  whose 
receipts  for  the  year  1848-9  amounted  to  $4,555  ;  and  another 
at  Stavanger,  whose  receipts  were  $3,365.  We  have  no  details 
respecting  their  operations. 

In  Norway,  a  Missionary  Society  is  mentioned  by  Hoole,  as 
having  sent  out,  in  1842,  two  missionaries  with  the  intention  of 
establishing  a  mission  among  the  Zulus  in  South  Africa.  They 
.were  however  unable  to  locate  themselves  there,  and  were  seek- 
ing another  sphere  of  labor. 

Netherlands  Missionary  Society, — This  association  was  or- 


AND    REGISTER.  359 

ganized  in  1797,  having  owed  its  origin  to  an  address  from  the 
London  Missionary  Society,  translated  and  circulated  by  Dr. 
Vanderkerap,  a  zealous  laborer  under  that  Society  in  South 
Africa.  The  disturbed  condition  of  the  continent  at  the  time 
repressed  the  newly-excited  missionary  spirit ;  and  it  was  not 
until  1818  that  the  Netherlands  Society  sent  forth  missionaries. 
The  Indian  Archipelago  has  been  the  chief  and  appropriate 
sphere  of  its  operations  ;  since  those  islands  are  under  the  rule 
of  the  Dutch  government,  which,  in  its  strange  course  of  opposi- 
tion to  Christian  missions,  has  made  exception  in  favor  of  those 
undef  Dutch  superintendence.  We  have  no  very  full  accounts 
of  the  present  condition  of  these  missions ;  what  we  have,  how- 
ever, is  of  no  little  interest.  Mr.  Schuh,  a  graduate  of  the  Paris 
Institute,  has  recently  gone  out  to  Java,  under  this  Society,  and 
is  now  actively  engaged  in  missionary  labor.  He  states  that  at 
Samarang,  in  that  island,  there  are  several  missionaries,  besides 
Mr.  Bruckner,  of  the  Baptist  Society,  who  came  thither  in  1811 
when  the  English  invaded  Java,  and  is  living  privately  ;  and  in 
the  island  of  Timor,  there  are  two  more.  To  the  latter  station, 
Mr.  Schuh  with  his  companions,  making  three  missionaries, 
were  appointed.  Mr.  Schuh  states,  that  at  the  time  of  Mr. 
Bruckner's  arrival,  with  his  fellow-laborers,  they  translated  the 
ISTew  Testament  and  several  tracts  into  the  Javanese ;  but  were 
not  allowed  to  circulate  them  after  the  island  became  again 
subject  to  the  Dutch.  A  pious  old  German  watchmaker,  how- 
ever, concealed  some  of  the  books  among  the  sacred  trees  of  the 
people,  where  they  were  found  and  read.  Many  of  the  natives 
became  converted ;  and  there  is  now,  at  Soudakari,  a  Christian 
village  containing  130  communicants,  with  a  large  number  in 
the  vicinity ;  who  are  under  the  instruction  of  four  native 
evangelists.  At  the  time  Mr.  Schuh  wrote,  there  were  as  many 
as  one  hundred  applicants  for  baptism. 

The   receipts    of  the    Netherlands   Missionary   Society,   for 
1848-9,  amounted  to  about  |27,000. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

AMERICAN  BOABD   OF   COMMISSIONERS  FOR  FOREIGN 
MISSIONS. 

The  origin  and  history  of  the  American  Board  are  so  well 
known,  as  to  preclude  the  necessity  of  our  devoting  much  space 
to  their  narration.  With  the  exception  of  the  missions  of  the 
United  Brethren,  the  American  Board  is  the  oldest  society  for 
foreign  missions  in  the  United  States.  It  was  in  the  year  1809 
that  several  of  the  students  at  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Andover  agreed  to  unite  their  eftbrts  in  establishing  a  mission 
among  the  heathen  in  some  foreign  land.  In  this  resolution 
they  were  encouraged  by  the  Faculty  of  the  Seminary,  and  they 
determined  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  General  Association  of 
Massachusetts.  Messrs.  Mills,  Judson,  Newell,  and  Nott,  ac- 
cordingly presented  to  that  body,  at  its  meeting  in  June,  1810, 
a  paper  in  which  they  made  a  statement  of  their  desire  to  preach, 
the  Gospel  to  the  heathen,  and  proposed  some  inquiries  respect- 
ing the  proper  method  of  putting  their  plans  into  execution. 
This  gave  rise  to  the  appointment  by  the  Association  of  a  board 
of  commissioners  for  foreign  missions,  who  at  their  first  meeting 
in  September  of  the  same  year  adopted  the  name  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions ;  thus 
recognizing  their  high  calling  to  act  for  all  in  every  part  of  the 
nation  who  might  choose  to  employ  their  agency  in  the  work 
of  missions  among  the  heathen.  The  transaction  of  ordinary 
business,  however,  was  delegated  to   an  executive  committee 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT   AND    REGISTER.  361 

called  the  Prudential  Committee,  the  members  of  which  reside 
at  or  near  Boston,  which  is  the  centre  of  the  Society's  operations. 

It  is  among  the  remarkable  facts  in  the  history  of  this  institu- 
tion, and  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  country,  that,  at  the 
outset,  neither  the  Board,  nor  its  Prudential  Committee,  nor, 
indeed,  any  of  the  leading  minds  in  the  American  Churches  at 
that  time,  conceived  the  possibility  of  raising  sufficient  funds  to 
support  the  four  young  men  who  were  then  waiting  to  be  sent 
forth  to  the  heathen  world.  One  of  them  was  accordingly  sent 
to  England,  mainly  to  see  whether  an  arrangement  might  not  be 
made  with  the  London  Missionary  Society,  by  which  a  part  of 
their  support  might  be  received  from  that  Society,  and  they  yet 
remain  under  the  direction  of  the  Board.  The  London  Society 
wisely  declined  such  an  arrangement,  and  encouraged  their 
American  brethren  to  hope  for  ample  contributions  from  their 
o-yn  churches  so  soon  as  the  facts  should  be  generally  known. 
From  this  time  no  further  thought  was  entertained  of  help  from 
abroad.  On  the  6th  of  February,  1812,  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Samuel  Newell,  Adoniram  Judson,  Gordon  Hall,  Samuel  Nott, 
and  Luther  Rice,  the  first  American  missionaries,  were  ordained 
at  Salem,  Mass.,  and  they  forthwith  proceeded  to  Calcutta,  in 
the  East  Lidies,  but  without  being  designated  to  any  specific 
field.  The  Prudential  Committee  appear  to  have  been  unable 
to  decide  upon  any  particular  country  as  preferable  to  any 
others;  so  httle  kuDwledge  was  there  in  Europe  and  America 
of  the  precise  condition  of  heathendom. 

Messrs.  Judson  and  Rice  had  not  been  long  with  the  Baptist 
n:issicnaries  at  Serampore,  near  Calcutta,  before  they  embraced 
the  peculiar  views  of  those  brethren  in  relation  to  baptism  ;  and 
having  consequently  dissolved  their  connection  with  the  Society 
which  sent  them  forth,  a  new  institution  was  formed  for  their 
support — the  Baptist  Board  for  Foreign  Missions.  The  remain- 
ing missionaries,  after  many  vexations  and  much  painful  travelling 
from  place  to  place,  arising  from  the  intolerance  of  the  East 

16 


362  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

India  Company  towards  missionaries  of  any  nation,  and  especially 
from  tlieir  jealousy  of  Americans,  at  length  commenced  in  1813 
a  mission  at  Bombay  among  the  Mahrattas  of  Western  India. 
In  this  field  of  labor  as  yet  untouched  by  missionary  agency, 
they  encountered  all  the  obstacles  incident  to  the  commence- 
ment of  so  important  an  enterprise.  The  manifest  superiority 
of  the  Mahrattas  over  many,  if  not  most,  of  the  remaining  races 
of  India,  however,  induced  the  missionaries  not  to  despair  of 
success. 

Some  preparatory  work  had  been  performed  among  the 
Tamul  people,  of  the  northern  district  of  Ceylon  and  Southern 
India,  when  a  mission  was  commenced  among  them  in  1816  : 
in  Ceylon  through  the  Portuguese  and  Dutch  ;  and  on  the  conti- 
nent by  means  of  the  celebrated  missionary  Swartz  and  his 
associates.  Here  the  systematic  measures  which  the  mission 
speedily  adopted  for  the  training  of  a  native  agency,  and  the 
success  attending  them,  did  much  to  give  an  early  maturity  to 
the  plans  of  the  Board  for  raising  up  a  native  ministry  in  con- 
nection with  all  its  other  missions.  The  most  efficient  seminary 
of  such  a  nature  is  beheved  to  be  the  one  connected  with 
tlie  mission  in  Ceylon.  In  1834,  a  branch  of  this  mission 
was  formed  at  Madura,  on  the  continent;  and  in  1836,  another 
at  Madras,  with  the  special  object  of  printing  books  in  the 
Tamul  language  on  a  large  scale. 

The  first  mission  sent  by  the  Board  to  Eastern  Asia  was  to 
China  in  1830.  A  pious  merchant  of  New  York  city  furnished 
many  of  the  facts  and  arguments  which  justified  its  commence- 
ment, and  gave  two  missionaries  their  passage  to  China  and 
their  support  for  one  year.  One  of  these  missionaries  subse- 
quently visited  Siam  and  opened  the  way  for  a  mission  there ; 
as  he  did  also  in  Borneo.  The  missions  in  Siam  and  Borneo, 
however,  have  not  been  successful,  and  are  for  the  present  dis- 
continued. 

Of  the  missions  in  Western  Asia  and  on  tl^e  Mediterranean, 


AND    REGISTER.  363 

that  at  Athens   was  commenced  in  1829.  by  Dr.  Kino-.     It 
had  its  origin  in  the  deep  interest  which  America,  in  common 
with  the  most  of  civilized  Europe,  entertained  for  the  cause  of 
Greek   emancipation   and   renovation.      Dr.   King,  who   com- 
menced it,  had  previously  been  connected  with  the  Palestine 
Mission.    It  was  to  the  Holy  Land,  in  fact,  that  the  first  Ameri- 
can mission  in  this  quarter  of  the  globe  was  sent,  in  the  year 
1821.     Messrs.  Fisher  and  Parsons  were  pioneers  in  the  enter- 
prise.    In  3  828,  after  their  decease,  war  and  the  hostility  of  the 
Maronites  towards  the  mission,  compelled  the  surviving  laborers 
to  retire  for  a  time  from  Syria.     To  this  circumstance,  in  the 
developments  of  Providence,  we  trace  the  establishment  of  the 
mission    among  the    Armenians    of  Constantinople    and    Asia 
Minor,  w^hich  has  since  been  so  signally  blessed  to  that  people. 
In  1830,  Messrs.  Dwight  and  Smith  were  sent  on  an  exploring 
tour  into  Armenia,  and  were  instructed  to  visit  the  Nestorians  in 
the  province  of  Aderbaijan,  in  Persia.    This  visit  brought  to  light 
that  remnant  of  the  most  noted  missionary  Church  of  ancient 
times,  and  induced  the  Board  to  send  a  mission  to  restore  the 
blessings  of  the  Gospel  to  that  people.     The  mission  was  com- 
menced at  Oroomiah,  and  has  been  extended  to  the  indepen- 
dent Nestorian  tribes  in  the  Kurdish  Mountains.     The  leading 
object  of  the  mission  has  been  to  educate  the  clergy,  and  by  re- 
viving, through  the  blessing  of  God,  the  spirit  of  the    Gospel, 
to  induce  them  to  resume  its  faithful  preaching.     The  Nestorian 
Mission  has  during  the  last  few  years  assumed  a  new  importance 
and  interest.     The  Syrian  Mission  of  the  Board  is  located  among 
the  Druzes  of  Mt.  Lebanon,  where  a  seminary  has  been  under- 
taken.    The  Armenian  mission  is  an  equally  interesting  field 
of  labor  with  the  Nestorian,  and  proposes  to  itself  the  same  end 
of  renovating  the  spirit  of  that  nominal  Christian  Church.     But 
the  attempt  to  do  this  under  connection  with  the  old  ecclesiastical 
body  has  failed,  and  the  formation  of  a  separate  evangelical  Prot- 
estant community  is  now  the  object  of  missionary  labor  among 


864  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

the  Armenians.  Since  the  late  outpourings  of  tlie  Holy  Spirit 
at  this  mission,  and  the  violent  persecution  (now  happily  ceased,) 
which  it  has  undergone,  it  has  become  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  promising  under  the  care  of  the  Board. 

The  mission  of  the  American  Board  in  South  Africa  was 
commenced  in  1836;  and  is  located  among  the  Zulus.  The 
cause  has  here  been  gradually  advancing,  notwithstanding  the 
obstacles  from  the  wars  of  the  natives  and  their  prejudice  against 
the  pure  morality  of  the  Gospel.  The  mission  to  Western 
Africa  was  commenced  in  1834,  and  is  situated  along  the  coast 
near  the  Gaboon  River. 

The  results  of  the  mission  of  the  Board  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands  in  the  North  Pacific  Ocean,  the  most  important  group 
of  Polynesia,  constitute  one  of  the  great  moral  wonders  of  the 
age.  The  first  missionaries  landed  on  these  islands  in  the 
year  1820.  At  that  time  the  natives  were  savage  and  pagan, 
without  letters,  without  a  ray  of  Gospel  light,  though  they  had 
just  before  strangely  burned  their  idols — a  fact  unknown  in  the 
United  States  when  the  missionaries  embarked  on  their  errand 
of  mercy.  For  a  number  of  years  this  same  people  has  prop- 
erly claimed  the  title  of  a  Christian  people.  Though  destitute, 
in  some  measure,  by  reason  of  their  poverty,  of  the  more  im- 
posing insignia  of  civilization,  they  have  the  elements  and  basis 
of  it  in  Christian  institutions,  schools,  a  written  language,  the 
press,  books,  newspapers,  and  commerce,  and  in  the  extensive 
prevalence  of  pious  dispositions  and  habits.  Their  language 
has  been  reduced  to  writing,  and  about  one  hundred  and  eighty 
millions  of  pages  have  been  printed  by  the  mission  in  the  native 
language.  As  the  alphabet  contains  but  twelve  letters,  and 
each  letter  has  but  a  single  sound,  it  is  easy  to  learn  to  read  it. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  population  can  read.  The  common 
schools,  supported  now  by  the  Hawaiian  Government,  contain 
about  eleven  thousand  pupils,  who  are  instructed  in  the  element- 
ary branches  of  education.     The  higher  schools  contain  up- 


AND    REGISTER.  365 

wards  of  two  hundred  more  scholars.  The  number  of  church 
members,  at  the  hist  accounts,  was  23,102.  The  Hawaiian 
churches  are  not  inactive.  Gradually  they  are  becoming  able 
to  do  more  and  more  in  support  of  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
among  themselves,  and  are  contributing  not  only  to  the  spread 
of  true  religion  among  the  surrounding  heathen,  but  even  to 
the  assistance  of  Christian  missionaries  from  France, — the  land 
from  which  they  have  received  so  many  insults  and  injuries. 

The  Board  has  spent  a  portion  of  its  funds  in  missions  among 
the  Cherokees  and  Choctaws,  and  other  influential  Indian  tribes. 
Their  missions  to  the  former  commenced  in  1816  and  1818, 
and  were  prosecuted  with  great  success,  until  the  time  of  the 
removal  of  those  tribes  beyond  the  Mississippi  River,  whither 
the  missionaries  followed  them.  There  were  also  founded  mis- 
sions among  the  Creeks  and  Chickasaws  (now  abandoned) ; 
among  the  Ojibways,  Sioux,  and  Pawnees;  and  among  the  tribes 
in  the  Oregon  territory,  and  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

Of  the  missionaries  in  the  employ  of  the  American  Board, 
twelve  are  located  among  the  Zulus  in  South  Africa,  five  are 
attached  to  the  Gaboon  mission  in  West  Africa,  one  to  the 
Greek  mission,  three  to  the  mission  to  the  Jews  at  Salonica  and 
Constantinople,  eighteen  to  the  Armenian  mission,  ten  to  the 
Syrian  mission.  Among  the  Nestorians  there  are  six  mission- 
aries, at  the  Bombay  mission  four,  at  the  Ahmednuggur  mis- 
sion seven,  at  the  Madras  mission  four,  at  the  Madura  mission 
eleven,  at  the  Ceylon  mission  eleven,  at  the  Canton  mission 
three,  at  the  Amoy  mission  two,  at  the  Fuh-Chau  mission  six. 
At  the  Sandwich  Islands  are  stationed  twenty-five  missionaries, 
among  the  Oregon  tribes  three,  among  the  Choctaw^s  five, 
among  the  Cherokees  five,  at  the  Dakota  mission  six,  among 
the  Ojibways  two,  and  among  the  New  York  Indians  five. 

The  following  summary  of  the  operations  of  this  Society  is 
given  in  the  last  annual  report.  The  Board  has  twenty-four 
missions  under  its  care,  embracing  one  hundred  and  six  stations, 


366  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

and  twenty-eight  out-stations.  In  lliese  missions  are  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-seven  ordained  missionaries,  and  two  licensed 
preachers.  Of  teachers,  printei*s,  etc.,  there  are  twenty-five,  and 
of  female  assistant  missionaries  two  hundred  and  four.  The 
whole  number  of  laborers,  male  and  female,  sent  from  this  coun- 
try and  now  living,  is  three  hundred  and  ninety-five.  The 
number  sent  out  from  the  beginning  is  nine  hundred  and  sixty. 
Six  native  pastors,  and  twenty-two  other  native  preachers,  and 
ninety-four  native  helpers,  make  the  whole  number  of  native 
assistants,  not  including  schoolmasters,  and  comparatively  un- 
educated helpers,  one  hundred  and  twenty-two.  The  whole 
number  of  laborers,  foreign  and  native,  now  connected  with  the 
mission,  who  depend  for  the  means  of  living  and  usefulness  on 
the  treasury  of  the  Board,  is  five  hundred  and  seventeen. 

The  number  of  churches  formed  in  the  missions  is  eighty- 
five.  These  contain  twenty-five  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-five  members  in  regular  standing.  The  admissions  to 
the  churches  by  a  profession  of  faith,  during  the  year,  were  one 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty-seven.  The  contributions  re- 
ceived by  the  Board  from  foreign  lands,  the  amount  of  which 
is  steadily  increasing  from  year  to  year,  were  $8,249  04,  and  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  this  came  from  these  native  mission  churches. 

The  seminaries  for  training  native  preachers  and  teachers  are 
seven  in  number,  and  contain  three  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
pupils ;  and  there  are  seven  hundred  and  fifty-five  pupils,  male 
and  female,  in  other  boarding-schools.  The  number  of  children 
in  free  schools  is  twenty-one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty, 
about  half  of  whom  are  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  supported 
by  the  Hawaiian  Government.  Altogether,  therefore,  there  are 
in  the  schools  under  the  care  of  this  Society,  twenty-two  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  twenty-four  scholars. 

Twelve  printing  establishments  are  in  operation,  in  as  many 
of  the  missions,  with  seven  type  and  stereotype  foundries,  and 
type  for  printing  in  nearly  thirty  languages.     During  the  past 


AND    REGISTER.  367 

year  37,644,828  pages  are  reported  to  have  been  printed.  This 
swells  the  amount  of  printing  from  the  beginning,  in  all  tho 
missions,  to  819,706,481  pages. 

The  receipts  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions,  for  the  year  ending  31st  July,  1850,  were 
$251,862  28.  The  expenditures  for  the  same  period  were 
8254,329  35.     The  debt  of  the  Society  was  $34,071  05. 


CHAPTER  XXIl. 

AMERICAN   BAPTIST   MISSIONARY   UNION. 

The  first  movements  among  the  Baptist  churches  of  America, 
in  behalf  of  evangelical  missions,  were  made  like  those  of  othei" 
denominations,  in  favor  of  the  new  settlements  on  our  own 
frontiers.  For  this  object  the  Massachusetts  Baptist  Missionary 
Society  was  organized,  in  1802.  The  labors  of  the  men  employed 
by  this  Society,  together  with  the  intelligence  arriving  from  time 
to  time  from  the  English  Baptist  missionaries  at  Serampore, 
excited  and  fostered  the  interest  of  the  churches  in  the  work ; 
and  in  1811,  the  Boston  Association  of  BajDtist  ministers 
recommended  a  general  collection  in  behalf  of  the  East  India 
mission. 

The  immediate  occasion,  however,  of  the  formation  of  an 
independent  missionary  organization  by  the  Baptists  in  America, 
was  the  conversion  of  two  American  missionaries,  Messrs.  Judson 
and  Rice,  to  the  views  entertained  by  that  denomination  on  the 
subject  of  baptism.  These  missionaries,  who  had  been  sent  out 
originally  by  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners,  proceeded 
to  Rangoon,  and  undertook  the  acquisition  of  the  Burman 
language.  Meanwhile,  the  change  in  their  denominational  con- 
nection becoming  known  at  home,  it  was  determined  to  proceed 
immediately  to  the  formation  of  a  society  for  their  support ;  and 
accordingly,  a  meeting  of  twenty-six  clergymen  and  seven  lay- 
men, from  various  parts  of  the  Union,  assembled  at  Philadelphia, 
and  was  organized,  on  the  18th  of  May,  1814,  as  the  General 
Missionary  Convention   of  the   Baptist   denomination   in  the 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT   AND   REGISTER.  369 

United  States.  This  body  continued  to  exist  until  1846,  when 
it  was  merged  in  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union. 

The  Burman  Mission  founded  at  Rangoon  by  Dr.  Judson, 
was  recruited  in  1816  by  the  arrival  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hough. 
The  necessity  of  preparing  and  printing  rehgious  books,  and 
especially  of  translating  the  Scriptures,  immediately  presented 
itself  to  the  missionaries ;  and  their  first  efforts  were  directed  to 
these  objects.  Two  years  after,  Messrs.  Wheelock  and  Coleman 
arrived;  and  in  1819,  the  first  place  of  worship  was  opened, 
and  the  first  convert  baptized.  The  number  of  inquirers  and 
converts  soon  increased  rapidly,  until  the  war  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  Burmese,  when  the  mission  was  broken  up  and 
removed,  after  many  vicissitudes  and  afflictions,  to  Maul  main, 
which  had  become  the  chief  city  of  the  English  provinces.  The 
next  year,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Boardman,  who  had  recently  arrived  at 
Burmah,  were  stationed  at  the  city  of  Tavoy,  150  miles  south 
of  Maulmain.  Here  was  commenced  an  important  department 
of  labor  in  the  Burmese  missions,  among  the  race  of  Karens — a 
people  scattered  over  the  forests  and  mountains  of  Burmah,  and 
Siam,  but  living  entirely  distinct  from  the  Burmans,  by  whom 
they  are  despised  as  inferiors  or  slaves.  At  the  death  of  Mr. 
Boardman,  in  1830,  thirty-five  of  these  interesting  people  had 
been  baptized  as  hopeful  converts  under  his  labors ;  and  in  a 
few  months  after,  thirty-nine  more  were  received  into  the  church. 
"  Beyond  all  precedent,"  says  the  last  report  of  the  Union,  "  the 
Karens  are  a  people  for  whom  the  Lord  has  prepared  his  way. 
Were  the  instrumentality  adequate,  the  millions  of  Karens  of 
even  the  present  generation  would  receive  the  Gospel  of  the  Son 
of  God  ;  a  nation  would  be  born  in  a  day." 

The  present  operations  of  the  Missionary  Union  in  Burmah, 
comprehend  five  missions;  none  of  which,  however,  are  in 
Burmah  Proper,  but  in  the  provinces  ceded  by  the  Burmese  to 
the  British  East  India  Company.  Attempts  are  now  making 
which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  prove  successful,  to  resume  the 
16* 


370  CIIUISTIAN    RETROSrECT 

occupation  of  Rangoon  and  Ava.  Of  the  five  missions  alluded 
to,  three  are  among  the  Karens — at  Maulmain,  Tavoy  and 
Sandovvay  :  the  others  are  the  Arracan  and  Maulmain  Burraan 
missions. 

The  Burman  mission  at  Maulmain  consists  of  two  stations,  at 
which  are  laboring  seven*  missionaries,  and  eight  female  assist- 
ants. The  recent  removal  of  Dr.  Judson  is,  of  course  severely 
felt  by  this  mission.  Two  of  the  laborers,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Howard, 
have  temporarily  withdrawn,  and  are  now  in  this  country  in 
quest  of  health.  The  Burmese  church  at  Maulmain  consists  of 
141  members;  the  average  attendance  on  public  worship  is 
about  350.  The  sabbath-schools  at  the  two  stations  (Amherst 
being  the  other)  number  130  pupils;  the  other  schools,  about 
300  pupils.  Of  publications,  the  whole  number  of  pages  printed 
from  the  beginning,  is  92,590,237. 

The  Maulmain  Karen  mission,  with  one  station  and  seven 
out-stations,  has  four  missionaries,  six  female  assistants,  five 
ordained  native  preachers,  three  teachers,  and  twenty-six  other 
native  assistants.  The  number  of  churches  organized  among 
the  Karens  is  nine;  the  number  of  members  1,708.  The 
Theological  Seminary  contains  twenty-seven  native  students 
preparing  for  the  ministry  ;  the  other  schools  have  174  scholars. 

The  Tavoy  Karen  mission,  consisting  of  two  stations  and 
fourteen  out-stations,  with  five  missionaries,  five  female  assistants, 
and  nineteen  native  assistants,  contains  thirteen  churches,  with 
933  members;  and  has  in  its  schools  377  pupils.  The  whole 
amount  of  printing  executed  has  been  2,096,960  pages.  This 
mission  has  been  reinforced  by  the  appointment  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Thomas,  recently  embarked. 

The  Arracan  mission  comprises  two  stations  and  an  out-sta- 
tion, at  which  four  missionaries,  two  female  assistants,  and  six 
native  assistants  are  laboring.     Its  schools  have  under  instruc- 
tion 59  children. 
*  Dr.  Judson  having  died  since  the  publication  of  the  Annual  Report. 


AND    REGISl'ER.  37l 

The  Saudoway  Karen  mission  has  36  out-stations,  with  three 
missionaries,  two  female  assistants,  and  44  native  preachers  and 
assistants.  The  estimated  number  of  church-members  in  con- 
nection with  the  churches,  of  which  there  are  thirty -six,  is  4,500  ; 
the  whole  number  of  baptized  persons,  since  the  beginning,  has 
been  over  5,500  ;  there  are  also  5,124  unbaptized  persons,  whose 
life  is  not  less  exemplary  in  all  respects  than  that  of  the  baptized 
members.     The  schools  contain  495  pupils. 

The  mission  in  Siam,  is  designed  in  part  for  the  Chinese,  who 
are  very  numerous  in  that  countiy.  It  was  commenced  in 
March,  in  1833,  at  Bangkok,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom.  The 
Siamese  department  consists  at  present  of  three  missionaries  and 
three  female  assistants.  There  are  two  out-stations.  Fifty-six 
persons  in  all  have  been  baptized,  "  There  never  was  a  time,  per- 
haps," says  the  last  Report,  "  when  the  people  of  Siam  were  so 
accessible  to  missionary  efforts  as  now.  Missionaries  are  free  to 
travel  throughout  the  country,  and  books  are  taken  and  read,  it 
is  believed,  by  all  classes."  The  total  number  of  pages  printed 
at  this  station  is  2,214,167. 

The  China  mission  has  two  stations, — at  Hong  Kong  and 
at  Ningpo, — -with  four  out-stations;  it  is  occupied  by  five 
missionaries,  three  female  assistants,  and  seven  native  assistants. 
There  are  27  church  members  in  connection  with  it,  and  60 
children  under  instruction  at  the  schools. 

The  mission  to  Assam,  undertaken  in  1836,  comprehends 
three  stations ;  five  missionaries  are  employed  with  six  female 
assistants,  and  four  native  assistants.  The  number  of  church- 
members  is  57  ;  of  scholars  in  the  various  schools,  700. 

The  mission  to  the  Teloogoos  is  prosecuted  by  two  mission- 
aries, with  their  wives  ;  it  has  250  pupils  under  instruction. 

The  mission  to  the  Bassas  in  West  Africa,  consists  of  one  sta- 
tion and  two  out-stations  ;  it  has  5  native  laborers.  The  schools 
number  39  scholars. 

On  the  continent  of  Europe,  besides  a  mission  in  France,  and 


372  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

one  in  Germany,  the  Missionary  Union  sustains  a  third  in 
Greece ;  its  stations  are  at  Corfu  and  Piraeus ;  it  has  two 
missionaries  and  three  native  assistants. 

The  labors  of  this  Society,  in  behalf  of  the  Indians  in  our  own 
country,  comprise  missions  among  the  Ojibways,  Ottawas,  Tus- 
caroras,  Shawanees,  and  Cherokees.  These  missions  are  con- 
ducted by  nine  missionaries,  with  ten  female  assistants,  and  ten 
native  assistants.  They  contain  twelve  churches,  numbering 
1,382  members  ;  the  schools  contain  195  pupils. 

We  close  with  a  brief  summary  of  the  operations  of  the 
American  Baptist  Missionary  Union.  Its  receipts  for  the  past 
year  were  187,537  20  :  its  expenditures,  $84,147  23.  The 
number  of  its  missions  is  17  ;  the  stations  and  out-stations  are 
155,  besides  more  than  150  places  of  stated  preaching.  Its 
missionaries  are  56  ;  female  assistants,  55  ;  native  assistants,  195  ; 
whole  number  of  laborers,  306.  The  number  of  churches  is 
141,  with  more  than  12,500  members;  of  schools,  106,  with 
2,772  pupils.  The  number  of  pages  printed  during  the  past 
year,  is  17,814,411. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

BOAKD   OF   FOREIGN  MISSIONS   OF    THE  PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH. 

Prior  to  the  formation  of  this  Society,  some  efforts  had  been 
made  by  the  Presbyterian  Church  for  the  propagation  of  the 
Gospel  among  Indians  and  settlers  on  our  frontiers  ;  and  for  this 
purpose  the  Western  Missionary  Society  had  been  formed  in  1802 
by  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg.  The  missions  of  this  Society  were 
however  transferred  in  1825  to  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety ;  and  again  with  it  to  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
soon  after.  A  new  organization,  under  the  name  of  the  West- 
ern Foreign  Missionary  Society,  was  attempted  in  1831,  with 
some  success,  and  several  missions  were  undertaken.  But  until 
the  formation  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis^ons,  in  1837,  many 
of  the  churches  continued  to  co-operate  with  the  American 
Board ;  and  this,  indeed,  is  done  to  some  extent  even  now. 
The  present  institution,  however,  arose  out  of  the  prevalent  con- 
viction among  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  the  "  Old  School" 
connection,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Church,  as  a  separate  body, 
to  labor  for  the  promotion  of  Christ's  kingdom,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  its  own  supreme  ecclesiastical  court.  In  this  opinion  and 
its  consequent  course  of  action,  it  harmonizes  with  the  Church 
of  Scotland  ;  whose  benevolent  operations  are  conducted  entirely 
under  the  superintendence  and  control  of  the  officers  of  the 
General  Assembly. 

The  number  and  wealth  of  the  churches  under  whose  patron- 
age the  Presbyterian  Board  is  laboring,  has  naturally  secured 


374  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

for  it  an  efficient  and  increasing  support.  The  receipts  of  the 
Western  Society  transferred  to  it  upon  its  formation,  already 
amounted  (for  the  year  1836-3'7) — to  more  than  $40,000.  In 
1839,  the  income  of  the  Board  was  nearly  863,000 ;  and  at  the 
last  annual  meeting,  May,  1850,  it  had  risen  to  $126,075.  So 
rapid  a  growth  indicates  of  course  a  corresponding  extension  of 
missionary  spirit  in  the  church,  and  promises  a  still  more  active 
efficiency  for  the  future. 

The  Missions  of  the  Board  are  chiefly  located  in  Northern 
India,  China,  West  Africa,  and  among  the  Indian  tribes  of  our 
Western  territories.  The  Northern  India  mission  was  com- 
menced in  1833,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Lowrie,  at  present  one  of  the 
Secretaries  of  the  Board.  The  north-western  provinces  of  India 
were  then,  and  continue,  in  a  great  measure,  to  be  unoccupied 
by  another  missionary  body,  as  a  field  of  labor.  Besides  this 
advantage,  the  vicinity  of  other  countries  where  no  effort  had 
been  made  to  extend  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  was  a  feature 
which  strongly  recommended  this  region  to  the  Board.  Lodiana, 
Furrukhabad  and  Allahabad,  are  the  localities  in  which  its 
missions  are  now  centred.  The  Lodiana  mission  includes  six 
stations,  at  five  of  Nfhich,  Lodiana,  Saharunpur,  Sabathu,  Jalan- 
dar,  and  Ambala,  churches  have  been  organized,  numbering  at 
present  fifty-three  members  in  all.  Eleven  ordained  missionaries, 
most  of  whom  are  married,  are  laboring  at  these  stations ;  with 
ten  assistants,  catechists,  readers,  &c.  The  religious  services  at 
the  stations  are  well  attended ;  frequent  tours  are  also  made 
through  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  country.  The  whole 
number  of  children  under  education  is  433.  The  whole  number 
of  pages  of  religious  publications  printed  since  the  beginning  has 
been  4,014,186.  The  important  city  of  Lahore,  capital  of  the 
Punjaub,  has  within  the  past  year  been  occupied  for  the  first 
time  as  a  missionary  station. 

The  Furrukhabad  mission,  including  the  stations  of  Futteh- 
gurh,  Mynpurie  and  Agra,  has  seven  ordained  missionaries,  with 


AND    REGISTER.  375 

their  wives,  three  catechists  and  a  teacher.  At  the  first  of  these 
churches,  there  is  a  flourishing  church  of  seventy-two  members  • 
at  Agra,  the  church  contains  thirty-five  members.  The  schools 
connected  with  this  mission  have  398  pupils.  The  Allahabad 
mission,  with  five  ordained  missionaries,  and  a  native  preacher, 
and  five  assistants,  has  a  native  church  of  thirty-four  communi- 
cants ;  its  schools  contain  399  children ;  the  whole  number  of 
pages  of  religious  publications  issued  from  its  presses  has  been 
2,310,319. 

The  whole  number  of  missionaries,  male  and  female,  sent  out 
by  the  Board  to  labor  in  Northern  India,  has  been  seventy  ;  in- 
cluding nine  who  have  gone  forth  within  the  present  year. 

In  SiAM,  the  Presbyterian  Board  sustains  a  mission,  consist- 
ing of  two  ordained  laborers  with  their  wives,  a  physician,  and  a 
Chinese  native  assistant.  The  only  station  is  at  Bangkok 
where  some  converts  have  been  made.  The  principal  agency 
of  the  mission  is  in  the  distribution  of  religious  books :  a  work 
of  the  highest  importance  in  a  country  where  a  majority  of  the 
male  adults  are  able  to  read. 

In  China,  the  missions  at  Canton  and  Ningpo  have  been  for 
some  time  in  existence  ;  a  new  mission  is  to  be  established  also 
at  Shanghai.  Three  missionaries  are  laboring  at  Canton ;  a 
chapel  has,  after  some  opposition,  been  opened,  and  a  school  of 
eighteen  boys  is  in  operation.  Ai  Ningpo,  eight  ordained  and 
two  lay  laborers  are  stationed  ;  of  whom  eight  are  married.  The 
mission  church  has  eight  native  members ;  public  services  are 
generally  well  attended  ;  the  schools  contain  70  pupils,  and  the 
press  has  issued  2,123,258  pages  of  rehgious  publications. 

In  West  Africa,  the  Liberia  mission  is  in  a  prosperous 
condition;  It  occupies  three  stations,  in  each  of  which  there  is 
a  church.  The  day  school  at  Monrovia  numbers  fifty-two 
scholars.  The  mission  at  Settra  Kroo  is  occupied  at  present  by 
one  missionary  only.  About  two  hundred  boys  and  a  few  girls 
have  been  taught  to  read  the  Bible ;  a  school  of  fifteen  scholars 


3Y6  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

is  DOW  sustained.  The  mission  near  the  Equator  is  a  new  one, 
but  ah'eady  holds  out  strong  encouragements. 

The  missions  of  the  Board  among  the  Indian  Tribes,  in  and 
upon  our  own  borders,  constitute  an  important  part  of  its  opera- 
tions. They  are  seven  in  number,  embracing  the  Choctaw, 
Chickasaw,  Creek,  Seminole,  Iowa,  Sac,  Otoe,  Omaha,  Chippe- 
wa, and  Ottawa  tribes.  Ten  ordained  missionaries,  with  theii 
wives,  and  sixteen  assistants,  are  now  hiboring  among  these 
tribes  in  connection  with  this  Society.  In  the  Ciioctaw  mission, 
they  have  under  instruction  more  than  one  hundred  youth. 
Among  the  Chickasaws,  a  female  boarding-school,  designed  to 
educate  at  least  80  girls,  has  recently  been  founded.  Among 
the  Creeks,  a  day-school  of  30  scholars,  and  a  boarding-school 
of  as  many  more,  is  sustained,  at  Tallahassee ;  and  at  Kowetah, 
with  a  church  of  17  native  members,  there  is  a  boarding-school 
of  33  pupils.  The  Seminole  mission  has  a  school  of  11  ;  the 
Iowa  and  Sac  mission,  of  35  ;  the  Otoe  and  Omaha,  the  same 
number.  In  the  Chippewa  and  Ottawa  mission,  there  is  a  boys' 
school  of  47,  and  a  girls'  school  of  28  ;  the  church  numbers  29 
native  members,  and  the  services  on  the  Sabbath  are  well 
attended. 

In  addition  to  these  labors  among  heathen  nations,  the  Board 
has  of  late  years  undertaken  to  aid  in  the  great  enterprise  of 
evangelizing  the  Papal  population  of  Europe.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  in  future  it  will  occupy  a  larger  portion  of  this  important 
field.  Hitherto  the  appropriations  of  the  Board  for  this  object 
have  been  comparatively  small ;  amounting  for  the  year  ending 
in  May  last,  to  $3,658  only. 

Finally,  the  Presbyterian  Board  supports  in  New  York  and 
Ihiladelphia,  three  ordained  missionaries  among  the  Jewish 
population.  We  do  not  learn  that  these  missionaries  have  met 
with  much  success  in  this  difficult  field  of  labor,  which  requires 
the  most  persevering  and  untiring  exertion. 


AND    REGISTER.  3*77 

The  missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  therefore,  exclusive 
of  its  operations  in  Papal  Europe,  are  eighteen  in  number.  Its 
ordained  missionaries  are  fifty-five — many  of  them  married  men  ; 
assistant  laborers,  forty-three. 


CHAPTER  XXIY. 

BOARD   OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  OF  THE   PROTESTANT 
EPISCOPAL   CHURCH. 

A  FOREIGN  and  Domestic  Missionary  Society  was  organized 
by  the  General  Convention  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
in  the  year  1S20.  Its  constitution  was  amended  in  1829;  it 
prescribed  that  the  meetings  of  the  Society  should  be  held  tri- 
ennially,  at  the  time,  and  place  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  the 
Convention.  It  also  provided  that  the  Society  should  be  com- 
posed of  the  bishops,  and  of  all  annual  subscribers  to  the  amount 
of  $3.  It  was,  therefore,  from  the  outset,  an  ecclesiastical  enter- 
prise ;  but  without  that  official  character  which  it  assumed,  when 
merged  into  the  "  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church;"  a  change  which  took  place  in  1835.  At  that  period, 
"  the  organization  was  entirely  altered,  and  the  Church  under- 
took and  agreed,  in  her  character  as  a  Church,  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  Christian  missions."  "  The  General  Convention,  as  the 
constituted  representative  body  of  the  whole  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church  in  the  United  States,"  now  became  the  agent  for 
prosecuting  this  work  ;  entrusting  its  superintendence  to  a  Board 
of  Missions,  in  the  recess  of  its  triennial  sessions ;  and  to  two 
separate  committees  appointed  by  that  Board. 

Attempts  were  made,  at  an  early  period  in  the  history  of  the 
Society,  to  found  missions  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa  ;  but 
it  was  not  until  1836,  that  a  missionary  teacher  was  appointed, 
and  a  small  school  begun,  at  the  town  of  Harper,  in  Liberia. 


CHRISTIAN    RETROSrECT    AND    REGISTER.  379 

The  next  year,  three  missionaries  were  sent  out,  and  in  1839,  a 
fourth.  Their  success  in  forming-  schools  and  in  preaching  to 
the  natives,  was  very  encouraging.  At  present,  the  African 
mission  inchides  five  stations :  at  Cavalla,  River  Cavalla,  Fish- 
town,  (or  Fair  Haven,)  Rocktown,  and  Cape  Palraas.  Besides 
these  stations,  there  are  towns  and  villages,  with  an  aggregate 
population  of  twelve  thousand  souls,  which  are  visited  weekly 
by  the  missionaries. 

The  station  of  Cavalla  is  in  a  highly  flourishing  condition. 
The  number  of  communicants  is  forty ;  of  whom  eleven  were 
added  within  the  year  1849.  The  boarding-schools  number  63 
pupils  ;  the  congregations  on  the  Lord's-day  average  200 ;  and 
a  Christian  village,  consisting  of  persons  who  have  been  trained 
up  at  the  schools,  has  been  recently  formed ;  it  now  contains 
ten  families.  The  Sunday-school  is  attended  by  80  to  100  chil- 
dren. Seven  villages  are  regularly  visited  by  the  missionaries 
connected  with  this  station. 

At  the  River  Cavalla  station,  a  small  school  is  kept  up,  con- 
taining eight  pupils.  This  post  is  a  sort  of  appendage  to  the 
station  previously  spoken  of. 

The  station  of  Fish  town,  or  Fair  Haven,  has  a  school  of  29 
pupils ;  there  are  fourteen  native  and  five  colonist  communi- 
cants in  connection  with  it.  Seven  villages  are  visited  by  the 
missionaries  here.  The  station  of  Rocktown  is  to  be  occupied 
on  the  arrival  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Herring. 

The  central  station  at  Cape  Palmas,  is  called  the  "  Church  in 
the  Colony."  Its  prospects  are  most  encouraging.  The  school 
has  in  the  male  department  fifteen,  and  in  the  female  forty-five 
pupils.  The  congregations  are  large ;  the  present  number  of 
communicants  in  good  standing  is  twenty-seven. 

There  are  now  laboring  at  these  several  stations  of  the  West 
Africa  mission,  five  ordained  missionaries,  one  teacher,  five  fe- 
male assistants  employed  in  the  mission-schools,  and  several 
native  teachers.     The  boarding  and  day-schools  contain   IGO 


380  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

scholars;  besides  those  receiving  instruction  in  the  evening- 
schools.  The  whole  number  of  communicants  connected  with 
the  mission,  is  eighty.  The  Rev.  John  Payne,  one  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, has  been  elected  by  the  General  Convention  as  Mis- 
sionary Bishop  in  Africa ;  and  has  been  recalled  for  the  purpose 
of  consecration. 

China,  as  a  field  of  labor,  engaged  the  attention  of  the  Epis- 
copal Missionary  Society,  as  early  as  the  year  1834 ;  when  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Lockwood  was  appointed  missionary  to  that  country. 
The  early  history  of  this  mission  was  not  fortunate ;  several  of 
the  laborers  were  compelled  from  ill-health  to  return ;  and 
finally,  in  1840,  the  difficulties  between  Great  Britain  and 
China  occasioned  its  abandonment  for  a  time.  Dr.  Boone,  one 
of  the  first  missionaries  sent  forth,  came  home  and  spent  some 
time  in  laboring  to  interest  the  churches  in  the  work  to  which 
he  had  devoted  himself;  and  in  1844,  having  been  consecrated 
bishop,  he  went  out  again,  accompanied  by  two  missionaries  and 
five  female  assistants.  Mr.  Syle  embarked  for  the  same  field  a 
few  months  afterwards.  The  station  fixed  upon  for  this  mission, 
was  the  port  of  Shanghai,  where  it  continues  at  present.  It  is 
to  be  regretted,  however,  that  notwithstanding  the  great  en- 
couragements met  with  in  this  mission,  and  the  readiness  of  the 
Church  at  home  to  sustain  it,  it  is  languishing  for  the  want  of 
laborers.  Bishop  Boone  and  Mr.  Syle,  with  two  female  assist- 
ants, are  the  only  persons  now  occupying  the  field.  The  chapel 
of  the  mission,  within  the  walls  of  the  city,  built  at  the  expense 
of  an  American  layman,  has  been  completed,  and  is  now  used 
for  public  worship  in  the  Chinese  language.  The  earliest  con- 
vert under  the  labors  of  the  missionaries,  has  been  recently  or- 
dained to  the  ministry ;  his  name  is  Chai.  The  mission-school 
continues  in  successful  operation,  with  forty-six  pupils.  The 
whole  number  of  natives  baptized  is  sixteen ;  of  communicants 
ten  ;  and  of  catechumens  under  religious  instruction,  ten. 

The  mission  at  Athens  is  the  oldest  of  the  foreign  enterprises 


AND    REGISTER.  381 

of  the  Board.  Upon  the  inquiries  and  observations  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Robertson,  in  1830,  it  was  conckided  to  commission  that 
gentleman,  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hill,  and  their  wives,  as  mission- 
aries to  Greece.  Schools  were  established  at  Athens  and  Syra ; 
and  a  mission  press  at  Syra  issued  up  to  the  year  1841,  8,826,900 
pages  of  religious  publications.  The  latter  station  was,  however, 
abandoned,  in  the  retrenchments  which  became  necessary.  The 
schools  at  Athens  continue,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Hill,  in  a 
prosperous  state ;  and  contain  at  present  between  four  and  five 
hundred  children,  who  are  receiving  not  only  the  ordinary 
branches  of  education,  but  also  a  thorough  training  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  religion,  and  especially  in  the  study  of  the  word  of 
God.  "  A  large  class  of  Bible  Christians,"  says  Mr.  Hill,  "  has 
been  formed  in  these  schools,  consisting  of  some  thousands; 
who  are  now  dispersed  over  every  part  of  Greece." 

A  mission  was  commenced  in  183Y,  at  Canea  in  the  island 
of  Crete.  In  seven  months,  the  schools  numbered  239  pupils, 
and  in  1840  had  reached  460.  But  in  1843,  this  mission  was 
discontinued. 

The  mission  at  Constantinople  was  projected  in  1838.  Pre- 
vious missions  had  been  attempted,  but  without  success,  in  Per- 
sia. In  1840,  Mr.  Southgate,  afterwards  elected  bishop,  was 
sent  to  Constantinople,  where  he  spent  some  time.  But  the 
experience  of  this  mission,  in  its  relation  with  the  Syriac  and 
Armenian  churches,  goes  only  to  corroborate  that  of  the  Church 
of  England  Missionary  Society,  given  in  the  words  of  its  secre- 
tary :  "  Its  attempts  to  establish  missions  among  the  ancient 
but  lapsed  Christian  churches  of  the  East  have  been  failures." 
The  mission  in  Turkey  has  been  finally  closed,  by  the  return  of 
Bishop  Southgate  to  this  country. 

Missions  to  the  Indians  have  been  at  various  times  under- 
taken by  the  Missionary  Society,  and  the  Board  of  Missions  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  As  early  as  1825,  a  station 
was  formed  among  the   Indians  at  Green  Bay,  in  the  north- 


382  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

eastern  part  of  Wisconsin.  Extensive  buildings  were  erected, 
and  a  large  school  founded,  wliicli  in  1836  contained  seventy 
Indian  children.  But  the  rapid  diminution  of  the  tribes,  and 
their  removal  to  their  new  locations  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
compelled  the  abandonment  of  this  promising  station.  The 
Board  of  Domestic  Missions  has  now  in  charge  a  mission  among 
the  Oneidas  at  Duck  Creek,  Wisconsin,  where  are  stationed  a 
missionary,  an  interpreter,  and  a  teacher. 

The  Board  of  Domestic  Missions  also  support  a  missionary  in 
New  York,  who  is  laboring  among  the  Jewish  population  of 
that  city.     He  reports  a  few  converts. 

In  conclusion,  the  present  operations  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  comprehend  five 
missions.*  It  sustains  ten  missionaries,  nine  female  mission- 
aries, and  a  number  of  native  a=;sistants.  Its  mission  schools 
contain  656  scholars,  and  its  mission  churches  number  ninety- 
six  communicants.  The  receipts  of  the  Board  for  the  year  end- 
ing in  June  last,  were  $36,114.     Its  expenditures,  $32,404. 

*  That  of  Constantinople  is  nominally  sustained  for  the  time  being. 
Bishop  Southgate  being  still  in  connection  with  the  Board. 


CHAPTER  XXY. 

METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   MISSIONAEY   SOCIETY. 

The  energy  with  which  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
from  its  earUest  planting  in  this  country,  has  undertaken  and 
prosecuted  the  work  of  Domestic  Missions,  will  in  some  meas- 
ure account  for  the  lateness  of  its  efforts  toward  the  propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  heathen  countries.  Emphatically  may  that 
church  be  called  a  missionary  church,  in  its  character  and  its 
operations.  But  the  necessity  of  a  separate  organization,  to 
carry  out  and  develop  the  missionary  spirit,  became  apparent. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  preachers  stationed  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
in  1819,  the  subject  of  forming  a  missionary  society  was  agi- 
tated :  and  a  meeting  of  the  friends  and  members  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  was  called  for  this  purpose.  The  first 
organization  was  under  the  title  of  "  Missionary  and  Bible  So- 
ciety ;"  and,  in  fact,  it  continued  its  operations  in  this  two-fold 
capacity — establishing  and  supporting  missions,  and  printing, 
publishing,  and  circulating  Bibles — until  the  year  1828;  when 
the  latter  department  was  separated  from  it,  and  a  Bible  So- 
ciety organized,  which  was  finally  merged  into  the  American 
Bible  Society,  in  1836. 

The  first  mission  undertaken  by  the  Methodist  Missionary 
Society,  was  among  the  Indian  tribes  of  our  own  territories,  and 
of  Canada.  Five  years  prior  to  its  formation,  a  colored  preacher 
of  the  church  went  forth  of  his  own  accord,  and  commenced  to 
labor  among  the  "Wyandott  Indians.     In  1817,  an  interesting 


384  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

revival  took  placo  tli rough  his  hibors,  and  many  of  the  tribe 
were  converted.  This  mission  was  maintained  with  great  suc- 
cess by  the  Society,  until  the  division  of  the  church  in  1844, 
when  it  fell  within  the  jurisdiction,  and  is  now  under  the  man- 
agement of  the  Methodist  Church  South.  The  membership  of 
this  mission  consists  of  189  persons,  of  whom  three  are  local 
preachers.  A  mission  among  the  Creek  Indians,  established  in 
1822,  prospered  greatly  for  several  years,  during  which  many 
were  added  to  the  church;  but  in  1830,  the  evil  influence  of 
dissipated  white  men,  and  other  influences,  compelled  its  aban- 
donment. Missions  were  successively  undertaken  among  the 
Mohawks,  Mississangas,  Cherokees,  Choctaws,  and  Potowata- 
mies.  Some  of  these  are  still  flourishing  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Church  South. 

The  Indian  Missions  at  present  sustained  by  the  Methodist 
Missionary  Society,  are  twelve  in  number :  the  Broth ertown, 
Oneida,  Sault  St.  Marie,  Kewawenon,  Fond  du  Lac,  Sandy 
Lake,  Flint  (two),  Nottaway,  Oneida  and  Onondaga,  St.  Regis, 
and  Wyandott  Missions.  They  are  carried  on  by  seventeen 
missionaries,  and  the  total  number  of  church  members  in  connec- 
tion with  them  is  1,079. 

The  Liberia  Mission  was  undertaken  in  1832,  by  the  excel- 
lent Melville  Cox,  who  soon  fell  a  victim  to  the  climate,  ex- 
claiming with  his  dying  breath,  "  Africa  must  not  be  given  up." 
It  consists  at  present  of  fifteen  missionaries,  besides  a  number 
of  local  preachers,  who  occupy  eighteen  stations,  and  visit  the 
native  towns  in  the  vicinity,  which  are  accessible.  The  churches 
connected  with  the  mission  number  1,117  members;  the  schools, 
of  which  there  are  twenty,  contain  810  scholars,  among  whom 
within  the  first  year  there  have  been  seventy-five  conversions. 

The  Oregon  Mission,  begun  in  1833,  resulted  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  "Oregon  and  California  Mission  Conference,"  in 
September,  1849.  This  Conference  is  now  composed  of  seven 
missionaries,  and  there  are  fourteen  local  preachers  in  the  Mis- 


AND    REGISTER.  885 

sion,  which  consists  of  eight  stations  in  Oregon,  and  six  in  Cali- 
fornia. The  three  mission  churches  in  Oregon  contain  404 
members;  the  schools  number  20 1  scholars. 

The  Mission  to  South  America  is  chiefly  designed  for  the 
benefit  of  British  and  American  residents.  In  1836,  a  mission- 
ary was  sent  to  Buenos  x\yres,  and  another  to  Rio  de  Janeiro. 
I'he  latter.  Rev.  D.  P.  Kidder,  has  published,  in  an  interesting 
work,  the  results  of  his  experience  and  investigations  in  Brazil. 
A  third  mission  to  Montevideo  was  begun  in  1838.  Two  of 
these  efforts  have  proved  unsuccessful ;  the  mission  to  Buenos 
Ayres  is  alone  continued  at  present.  The  church  connected 
with  it  contains  fifty-one  members,  and  the  Sunday-school  has 
an  average  attendance  of  one  hundred. 

The  Mission  to  China  is  the  most  recent  of  the  enterprises  of 
this  Society.  It  was  commenced  in  184Y,  by  sending  forth  two 
young  ministers ;  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  months,  two  more 
were  commissioned.  One  of  the  latter  number,  Mr.  Hickok,  has 
since  been  compelled,  by  reason  of  ill-health,  to  return.  The 
missionaries  are  engaged  in  daily  preaching  in  the  streets,  in 
the  distribution  of  tracts,  and  in  the  care  of  the  sick.  Each  of 
them  has  under  his  supervision  a  day-school  taught  by  a  Chinese 
master.  The  three  schools  contain  sixty -four  scholars,  with  an 
average  attendance  of  fifty  a  day.  This  mission  is  strictly  in 
its  infancy,  but  its  laborers  are  not  without  encouragement  al- 
ready, in  the  yielding  of  prejudices,  and  the  wilhngness  to  listen 
to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 

The  Society  has  recently  sent  one  missionary,  and  has  since 
appointed  another,  to  labor  in  Germany.  They  have  been  quite 
successful  in  this  enterprise,  of  which,  however,  it  does  not  enter 
into  our  design  to  treat  more  fully  here. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Missionary  Society,  during  the  year 
ending  in  May  last,  expended  for  its  various  missions  the  sum 
of  $100,989  63  ;  its  receipts  having  amounted  to  $107,835  73. 
At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Missionary  Committee  and  Board 

17 


3SG  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

of  Managers,  it  was  decided,  in  view  of  the  Avants  of  the  mis- 
sionary world,  to  increase  this  sum,  by  a  special  effort  for  the 
succeeding  year,  to  $150,000.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  hearty 
response  will  be  given  to  this  call  for  renewed  exertion  and  sac- 
rifice. 

The  present  operations  of  this  Society  may  be  briefly  summed 
up  as  follows.  The  number  of  its  missionaries  in  the  foreign 
department,  exclusive  of  printers,  teachers,  mechanics,  &c.,  is 
thirty -four ;  in  the  home  department,  including  the  Indian, 
German,  and  Swedish  missions,  464.  The  number  of  church 
members  connected  with  the  foreign  missions  is  1,611 ;  con- 
nected with  the  home  missions,  38,882  ;  total,  40,493. 


CHAPTER  XXYI. 

S:NrALLER    AMERICAX   MISSIONARY    SOCIETIES. 

We  proceed  to  mention  briefly  some  of  the  missionary  organi- 
zations in  tliis  country,  which  liave  not  yet  attained  equal  size 
with  those  we  have  already  noticed. 

The  Aiiierlcan  Missionary  Association  was  constituted  in 
1846,  at  a  convention  held  at  Albany.  It  was  formed  by  the 
union  of  three  similar  associations  which  had  existed  for  a  few 
years.  It  is  well  known  that  this  Society  is  supported  mainly 
by  individuals  of  the  aboHtionist  party,  who  are  unwilling  to 
unite  with  the  American  Board,  from  the  alleged  countenance 
it  has  given  to  slavery  in  some  of  its  missions  among  the 
Indians.  The  first  mission  undertaken  by  the  association,  was 
that  to  the  Mendi  country,  in  West  Africa.  The  liberation  of 
the  captives  of  the  Amistad,  and  their  return  to  Africa,  were  the 
occasion  of  this  enterprise.  It  was  planted  at  Kaw-Mendi, 
w^here  there  are  now  laboring  three  missionaries,  six  assistants 
and  three  native  assistants.  The  mission  school  is  in  a  prosper- 
ous state,  and  numbers  eighty  scholars.  Since  the  arrival  of 
Mr.  Thompson,  thirty  individuals  have  been  hopefully  converted. 
The  Siam  Mission,  for  some  time  interrupted  by  the  removal  of 
its  laborers,  has  been  re-occupied  by  three  missionaries,  who 
arrived  at  Bangkok  in  the  spring  of  1850.  The  state  of  things  at 
that  station  is  represented  as  more  favorable  than  previously  to 
the  success  of  the  mission.     In  the  Island  of  Jamaica,  four  sta- 


388  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

tions  and  two  out-stations  are  occupied  under  this  Society,  by 
five  missionaries  and  five  teachers.  The  congregations  are  large; 
and  the  schools  contain  about  200  scholars.  Among  the 
Ojibways  in  the  Minesota  Territory,  six  missionaries  with  five 
assistants  arc  laboring  at  three  stations.  In  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
one  mission  at  Makawao,  East  Maui,  is  still  connected  with  the 
Association,  but  su])ports  itself;  and  at  Mount  Hope  in  Canada, 
a  school  with  two  hundred  scholars  is  sustained  by  it.  The 
number  of  this  Society's  missions  is  five,  with  ten  stations ;  it 
supports  twelve  missionaries,  and  eleven  male  and  twenty 
female  assistants.  There  are  also  four  native  assistants,  and 
seven  laborers  under  appointment.  Receipts  for  the  last  year, 
$26,849  66. 

The  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
was  founded  in  1837,  in  response  to  an  appeal  from  Mr. 
Khenius  and  his  associates  the  German  missionaries  in  India. 
The  only  mission  as  yet  under  its  direction  is  situated  in  the 
district  of  Guntoor,  in  the  Madras  presidency,  India.  Three 
missionaries  are  now  laboring  in  this  field  :  Mr.  Martz  at  Guntoor, 
and  Messrs.  Heyer  and  Gunn  at  Guyal.  The  former  station 
has  five  schools  containing  160  scholars;  several  persons  have 
offered  themselves  for  baptism.  Mr.  Heyer  has  met  with  great 
success  at  Guyal.  In  eight  villages  of  the  Palvaud  he  has 
baptized  32  adults,  and  24  children.  He  has  27  candidates  for 
baptism,  and  103  children  under  instruction.  Besides  these 
laborers,  two  missionaries  and  their  wives  have  recently  sailed  to 
reinforce  the  mission.  The  receipts  of  the  Society,  for  the  last 
year,  were  ^4,230  42. 

The  General  Synod  of  the  Associate  Keformed  Presbyterian 
Church  established  in  1844  a  mission  at  Damascus,  composed 
of  two  missionaries.  Dr.  Paulding  and  the  Rev.  James  Barnett. 
In  the  autumn  of  1850,  two  more  missionaries,  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Frazier  and  Lansing,  were  sent  out — the  latter  by  the  Associate 
Reformed  Synod  of  New  York.  The  first-fruits  of  this  mission  weie 


AND    REGISTER.  389 

gathered  a  few  months  since,  in  the  conversion  of  two  adults. 
But  one  other  mission  is  sustained  by  this  Church — in  Oregon, 
Avhere  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bhiir  has  been  laboring  for  two  years.  Re- 
ceipts for  the  hist  year,  83,182  32. 

The  Methodist  Episcoixd  Church  South  has  a  missionary 
society,  whose  operations  as  yet  are  almost  wholly  of  a  domestic 
character.  It  supports,  however,  a  mission  at  Shanghai,  in 
China,  where  two  missionaries,  Messrs.  Taylor  and  Jenkins,  have 
been  laboring  for  a  short  time.  In  California,  also,  it  sustains 
three  missionaries,  who  have  but  recently  arrived  there. 

The  Southern  Baptist  Convention  sustains  through  its  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions,  twelve  laborers  in  heathen  lands,  besides 
twenty-four  assistants.  Its  stations  in  China  are.  at  Shanghai, 
where  there  are  three  missionaries,  who  preach  to  large  congre- 
gations in  two  chgpels,  and  at  Canton,  where  two  missionaries 
are  stationed.  At  the  former  place,  three  Chinese  were  baptized 
within  the  last  year  ;  a  school  of  twenty  scholars  has  been  estab- 
lished at  a  short  distance  from  the  city.  In  Africa,  ten  stations 
are  occupied,  in  the  colony  of  Liberia  ;  there  are  several  flourish- 
ing schools  with  upwards  of  three  hundred  scholars.  The 
churches  at  these  stations  have  received  large  accessions  during 
the  last  year.  A  mission  is  contemplated,  also,  in  Central 
Africa,  and  three  missionaries  are  now  engaged  in  exploring  the 
country.  This  Society  has  projected  a  great  extension  of  its 
foreign  work,  and  we  trust  will  rapidly  increase  in  strength  and 
activity.     Its  receipts  for  the  past  year  were  $28,697  70. 

The  Baptist  Free  Mission  Society  was  formed  in  1843,  by  a 
convention  of  Baptists  at  Boston.  It  is  supported  by  those  who 
refuse  to  unite  with  the  main  society  of  the  denomination  from 
a  determination  to  " separate  from  all  connection  with  the  known 
avails  of  slavery,  in  the  support  of"  Missionary  operations.  The 
only  foreign  mission  of  this  Society  is  one  at  the  island  of  Hayti, 
in  the  West  Indies.     It  consists  of  two  stations  :  Port-au-Prince, 


390  CURISTIAX    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

and  Port-de-paix ;  ^vitli  two  missionaries  and  five  female  assist- 
ants.    Its  receipts  for  the  last  year,  were  86,571  81. 

The  Free  Will  Bajjtist  Foreigji  Mls.sion  Society  was  organ- 
ized in  1833,  in  connection  with  the  English  General  Ba])tist 
Society,  of  which  we  have  given  some  notice.  In  1837,  how- 
ever, it  undertook  a  separate  enterprise.  Its  missions  are  two : 
at  Bahisore  and  Jellasore,  in  the  province  of  Orissa,  Bengal. 
Three  missionaries  with  four  assistants  and  three  native  preach- 
ers occupy  this  field.  About  one  hundred  and  thirty  youth  are 
receiving  instruction  at  the  school.  The  receipts  for  the  last 
year,  were  $4,433  05. 

The  Seventh  Dciy  Baptists  sustain  a  mission  at  Shanghai  in 
China,  where  two  missionaries  are  now  laboring.  A  chapel  has 
been  opened,  and  one  convert  baptized.  Receipts  for  the  last 
year,  about  |1,200. 


CHAPTEK  XXYII. 

SOCIETIES   FOR   EVANGELIZING   THE   JEWS. 

Several  of  the  missionary  bodies  we  have  already  noticed  are 
engaged  to  some  extent  in  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  Jewish 
population,  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  Among  these  we 
have  specified  the  labors  of  the  Free  and  Established  Churches 
of  Scotland,  the  American  Board,  and  the  Presbyterian  Board. 
There  are,  however,  several  institutions  whose  peculiar  sphere  of 
labor  is  among  the  Jews. 

The  London  Society  for  i^^omoting  Christianity  a7nong  the 
Jews  has  reached  its  forty-second  year.  It  employs  at  present 
sixty-five  laborers,  chiefly  in  Great  Britain,  and  operates  through 
other  instrumentalities,  as  a  Temporal-Relief  Fund,  a  Hebrew 
College,  and  two  schools.  It  has,  also,  issued  during  the  last 
year  20,000  tracts,  principally  in  Hebrew,  and  about  5,700 
Bibles  and  Testaments.  The  number  of  converts  from  Judaism 
during  the  last  year  was  one  hundred,  besides  about  thirty  who 
are  only  prevented  by  civil  authorities  from  uniting  with  the 
Church.  The  receipts  of  this  Society  for  the  last  year  amounted 
to  £28,278  45.  10c?.,  or  $136,867. 

The  British  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  Jews  was  formed  six  years  ago.  During  the  last  year  it 
supported  some  ten  missionaries,  in  England,  Germany,  and 
Holland.  It  has  a  mission  college  with  about  twelve  pupils 
who  are  preparing  for  the  missionary  work.  During  the  year, 
five  converts  have  been  baptized  in  England,  and  five  at  Frank- 
fort in  Germany.     Its  receipts  were  £3,829  35.  4i.,  or  $18,540. 


392  CHRISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

The  American  Society  for  meliorating  the  Condition  of  the 
Jews  has  been  in  existence  twenty-seven  years.  It  now  sustains 
eio'ht  missionaries  amonof  the  Jews,  who  are  hiborina*  at  Charles- 
ton,  New  York,  and  other  stations  with  some  success.  It  is  only 
eight  years  since  this  Society  has  directly  sustained  any  laborers, 
and  the  converts  from  Judaism  during  that  time  have  been  twenty- 
seven.  The  receipts  for  the  last  year  were  $5,641  Ye.  We  are 
happy  to  add  that  the  increase  for  the  present  year  (1850-51) 
promises  to  be  considerable ;  the  receipts  will  probably  amount 
to  $11,000. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  make  any  precise  estimate  of  the 
number  of  Jews  who  have  been  brought  into  the  Christian 
Church  of  late  years  by  various  instrumentalities.  Da  Costa,  the 
author  of  a  valuable  work  recently  published,  observes  that  the 
number  of  Jews  baptized  in  Germany  during  the  last  twenty 
years,  is  estimated  at  5,000  ;  and  mentions  3,000  as  the  num- 
ber of  those  baptized  in  Russia  within  the  last  few  years. 


CHAPTEK  xxyni. 

CONCLUSIOK  AND   SUMMAEY. 

We  have  now  reached  the  end  of  our  undertaking.  How 
we  have  executed  it,  we  must  leave  to  others  to  decide.  It  has 
not  been  an  easy  one,  and  the  time  which  was  allowed  us  for 
its  execution  has  been  very  short.  We  have  endeavored  to  do 
what  we  proposed  as  the  object  to  be  accomphshed  with  a  heart- 
felt conscientiousness.  Wherein  we  have,  in  the  estimation  of 
our  readers,  come  short  of  making-  such  a  work  as  they  had 
expected  to  find  this,  we  beg  them  to  forgive  us.  We  cannot 
be  surprised  if  others  should  not  judge  this  book  to  be  what 
it  ought,  for  we  are  far  from  being  satisfied  with  it  in  all  respects, 
-ourselves,  notwithstanding  the  partiality  of  authors  for  the  pro- 
ductions of  their  pens. 

But  whatever  may  be  desired  in  this  volume,  written  in  the 
course  of  a  few  weeks,  we  think  that  it  demonstrates  that  Man- 
kind have  made  great  advances  in  all  that  concerns  their  temporal 
well-being  during  the  Half  Centurj'-  of  which  it  treats.  No  one 
will  undertake  to  maintain  that,  in  all  that  relates  to  their 
Material  Interests,  our  race  has  not  made  great  progress 
since  the  commencement  of  the  XlXth  century.  The  great 
expansion  of  Commerce;  the  vast  augmentation  of  Wealth; 
the  rapid  growth  of  Manufactures ;  the  increased  application  of 
Science  to  the  arts  of  production  ;  the  multiplication  of  the  facili- 
ties of  intercommunication,  as  seen  in  thousands  of  Steamboats 
and  in  the  many  Railroads  made  or  making;  the  remarkable 
attention  given  to  institutions  for  the  reformation  of  deUnquents 

11* 


594  CIIUISTIAN    RETROSPECT 

and  criminals,  restoration  of  the  sick  to  lioaltli,  and  the  insane  to 
the  possession  of  reason  ;  the  instruction  of  the  deaf  and  dumb, 
of  the  bhnd  and  of  the  idiotic ;  the  successful  efforts  to  pro- 
mote the  education  of  the  masses  ;  the  enlarged  freedom  of  the 
press;  the  widening  diffusion  of  the  principles  of  constitutional 
liberty,  and  their  manifestation  in  more  popular  forms  of  govern- 
ment— all  proves  that  there  has  been  an  astonishing  movement 
in  this  direction  since  the  year  A.  D.  eighteen  hundred.  History 
records,  in  our  opinion,  no  similar  progress  during  any  fifty 
years  of  the  long  period  of  5854  which  has  elapsed  since  the 
creation  of  man.  That  the  latter  half  of  the  century  will  show 
still  greater  progress,  we  are  far  from  being  disposed  either  to 
deny,  or  to  doubt.  That  there  has  also  been  a  great  progress  in 
all  that  has  a  bearing  on  the  Moral  and  Religious  Interests 
of  Humanity,  during  the  same  era,  is  a  position  which  none  can 
question.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  Protestant  World.  The 
increased  spirit  of  prayer,  and  the  effort  to  which  it  has 
prompted,  in  behalf  of  both  Home  and  Foreign  Missions ;  "the 
greatly  augmented  attention  to  the  religious  instruction  of  the 
youth  in  Sunday  Schools  and  Bible-classes;  the  wonderful  exer- 
tions made  to  translate,  print  and  diffuse  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
and  Religious  Tracts;  the  enlarged  liberty  to  preach  Christ's 
Gospel;  the  opening  up  of  the  way  to  carry  Christianity  into 
nations  which  have  never  known  it,  and  to  restore  it  to  those 
which  have  corrupted  it;  the  more  frequent  visitations  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  by  which  many  have  been  made  to  submit  to  the 
Saviour  in  a  short  period — all  this  demonstrates  that  there  has 
been  a  glorious  advance  in  whatever  concerns  the  best,  (be- 
cause spiritual,)  interests  of  mankind. 

We  are  pained  to  be  compelled  to  admit,  however,  that  the 
progress  in  the  Moral  and  Religious  Interests  of  our  race,  during 
the  period  under  review,  has  not  equalled  that  of  their  Material 
Interests.  Great  as  has  been  the  resuscitation  of  a  true  Christi- 
anity, and  numerous  and  happy  as  have  been  its  fruits, — for 


AND    REGISTER.  395 

which  we  cannot  be  too  thankful, — still  it  is  deplorable  to  think 
that  a  few  merchants  in  New  York  can  raise  with  almost  no 
effort  at  all,  more  than  twice  as  much  money  to  build  four 
splendid  Ocean  Steamers  as  all  the  receipts  of  all  the  Religious 
Societies  in  the  United  States  to  send  the  Gospel  to  millions  of 
men  who  have  never  heard  it.  But  what  is  the  building  of  four 
Steamships,  gigantic  and  splendid  as  they  may  be,  to  the  vast 
outlay  for  many  lines  of  Steamers,  for  numerous  and  costly 
Railroads,  as  well  as  for  other  enterprises  by  which  the  wealth 
of  the  contributors  may  be  augmented  ? 

We  are  far  from  regretting  the  prosperity  in  material  inter- 
ests of  which  we  have  just  spoken  ;  we  only  mourn  over  the 
fact  that  there  is  not  an  equal  prosperity  in  spiritual  affairs. 
AVe  are  far  from  being  disposed  to  estimate  for  nothing  the 
fact  that,  in  the  year  1850,  $1,750,000  were  raised  in  the  United 
States,  $3,500,000  in  Great  Britain,  and  $750,000  on  the 
Continent  of  Europe  and  other  parts  of  the  world,*  for  the  pro- 
motion of  Christianity  at  home  and  abroad ;  but  we  cannot  but 
deplore  that  it  was  not  far  greater,  when  we  think  of  the  infinite 
importance  of  the  blessings  which  it  brings  to  men,  and  of  their 
hopeless  condition  without  it.  We  bless  God  for  the  success  of 
the  Gospel  in  turning  men  unto  God,  wherever  it  has  been 
preached  during  the  last  fifty  years ;  still  we  cannot  but  ask, 
with  the  deepest  sorrow,  why  has  it  not  had  greater  success  ?  W^hy 
are  so  few  interested,  awakened,  convinced,  converted,  and  saved 
by  all  the  efforts  which  the  churches  are  making  ?  Oh,  what 
malignant  influence,  what  dreadful  obstacle,  what  Heaven-pro- 
voking offence  prevents  the  Divine  blessing  from  coming  down 
upon  God's  own  word  and  ordinances,  in  all  that  abundance 
which  He  himself  has  encouraged  us  to  look  for  ?  Is  it  because 
of  too  great  a  reliance  upon  our  own  wisdom, — upon  our  organ- 
izations, which  are  so  characteristic  of  the  age  ?     Where  is  the 

*  Total,  $6,000,000. 


396  CURISTIAN    RETROSPECT    AND    REGISTER. 

evil  ?  "Whose  is  the  fault  ?  Reader,  these  are  serious  inquiries 
for  us,  and  for  all  who  profess  to  be  the  followers  of  Christ. 
Can  it  be  that  we  are  faithfully  acting  the  part  of  the  Lord's 
Remembrancers  1*  Can  it  be  that  the  people  of  God  are  fully 
awake,  or  anything  like  it,  to  their  great  privileges,  their  mo- 
mentous duties,  and  their  solemn  responsibilities  ? 

But  we  must  here  bring  this  volume  to  a  close.  May  our 
blessed  Lord  deign  to  make  it  the  means  of  contributing,  in 
some  degree,  to  the  advancement  of  His  glorious  kingdom  in 
this  world ;  and  to  Him  alone  be  the  glory, — to  us,  the  joy. 


IST.B. — After  the  portion  of  this  work  relating  to  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society  had  been  printed,  we  received  in- 
telligence of  the  death  of  those  excellent  men.  Lord  Bexley 
and  the  Rev.  A.  Brandram,  the  former  President,  and  the  latter 
Secretary,  of  that  institution. 

*  Is.  chap.  Ixii.  6,  (Marginal  reading). 


SUPPLEMENT 


PAET  I. 

PROGRESS  OF    THE  WORLD   IN    REGARD    TO    MATERIAL 
INTERESTS. 

The  advance  wliich  the  world  lias  made  in  all  that  concerns 
the  material  and  temporal  interests  of  men,  since  the  year 
1850,  has  been  great  and  striking.  And  yet  it  is  not  easy  to 
give  a  resume  within  the  compass  of  a  chapter  of  only  a  few 
pages. 

It  may  be  safely  said  that  the  discoveries  and  inventions  of 
'the  last  four  years  have  been  flir  greater  in  the  applications  of 
science  than  in  the  field  of  abstract  science.  This  is  seen  in  re- 
gard to  many  of  the  valuable  arts  and  manufactures,  as  well 
as  in  agriculture.  In  these  branches  of  human  industry,  every 
year  is  leading  to  inventions  of  the  greatest  importance.  The 
reaping  machines  of  McCormack,  Hussey  and  others,  have  at- 
tained to  great  perfection  within  a  few  years ;  so  have  those  for 
mowing  and  threshing.  The  making  of  paper  from  straw,  and 
even  wood,  is  another  instance  in  point,  to  show  how  useful 
science  is  becoming  in  these  days. 

The  Great  Exhibition  in  London  in  1851,  and  those  of  Dub- 
lin and  New-York  in  1853-4,  have  done  much  to  promote  the 
application  of  Science  to  Art,  and  to  show  the  relations  they 
sustain  to  each  other  as  Cause  and  Effect.  Similar  Exhibitions 
have  taken  place  on  a  small  scale  in  other  places,  and,  doubt- 
less, that  which  is  to  be  held  in  Paris  in  1855,  will  ensure  the 
best  results. 


398  SUPPLEMENT. 

The  progress  of  the  steamboat  and  of  the  raih-oad  has  been 
immense  within  a  few  years.  In  the  United  States,  there  is 
not  a  navigable  river,  or  lake  or  bay,  on  which  the  steamboat 
is  not  seen.  And  this  is  true  of  almost  the  entire  civilized 
world.  It  is  emphatically  so  of  England,  and  all  her  possess- 
ions. It  is  true  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  and  in  a  good  de- 
gree of  South  America. 

There  are  10,000  miles  of  railroad  completed  in  the  United 
States,  and  nearly  16,000  more  are  in  process  of  making. 
Several  thousands  of  miles  of  railroad  are  made  or  making  in 
the  British  possessions  north  of  us  ;  while  this  great  invention  is 
gaining  a  foothold  in  'New  Granada,  Brazil,  Chili  and  Peru,  in 
South  America.  In  Europe,  there  is  scarcely  a  country  in 
which  railroads  are  not  now  in  existence,  and  in  which  others 
are  not  making.  England  has  taken  the  lead ;  Belgium, 
France,  Austria,  Germany,  Russia  and  Italy  have  followed. 
Even  in  India,  Egypt  and  Australia,  railroads  are  to  be  seen. 
They  will  be  found,  before  long,  in  all  the  civilized  world. 

The  Electric  Telegraph,  too,  greatly  improved  in  its  modes 
of  operation,  is  now  to  be  seen  in  all  sections  of  our  own  coun- 
try and  the  adjoining  British  provinces,  and  is  beginning  to  be 
introduced  into  Mexico  and  South  America.  AVhilst  in  the 
Old  Hemisphere,  it  is  found  in  all  Europe,  and  even  in  distant 
India,  and  more  distant  Australia. 

Two  routes, — those  of  the  Isthmus  and  Nicaragua, — the  former 
by  railroad,  and  the  latter  mainly  by  steamboat,  unite  the 
trade  and  travel  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  ;  and  this 
within  a  few  years.  In  a  few  years  more  other  routes  will  be 
opened,  by  which  the  commerce  of  the  eastern  side  of  North 
America,  and  the  western  side  of  Europe,  will  find  its  way  to 
Eastern  Asia,  and  the  great  islands  of  the  Southern  sea. 

In  nothing  has  the  last  four  years  been  more  distinguished 
than  in  discoveries  on  the  sea  and  the  land.  We  will  mention  a 
few  of  the  most  remarkable. 


SUPPLEMENT.  399 

The  question  of  a  north- west  passage  has  been  settled,  by 
Capt.  McChire,  of  her  Britannic  Majesty's  ship  Investigator. 
In  the  summer  of  1850  he  passed  Behring's  Strails,  and  ^Yas 
last  seen  in  that  quarter  on  the  31st  of  July  of  that  year,  when 
he  was  saihng  north  and  north-east  on  the  north-west  coast  of 
America.  On  the  6th  of  April,  1853,  he  was  next  seen  in  the 
Bay  of  Mercy,  in  the  Prince  of  Wales  or  Baring's  Strait,  which 
is  connected  with  Baffin's  Bay  through  Melville  Sound,  Bar- 
row's Strait,  and  Lancaster  Sound. 

Lieutenant  Herndon  has  explored  the  great  valley  of  the 
Amazon,  from  the  Andes  to  the  mouth  of  that  immense  river, 
which  is  navigable  for  large  ships  to  the  distance  of  nearly  3,500 
miles. 

Lieutenant  Page,  of  the  U.  S.  steamer  Waterwitch,  has  been 
engaged  in  exploring  the  great  river  La  Plata,  —  the  Mis- 
sissippi  of  South  America. 

Important  Astronomical  Observations  have  been  made  by 
Lieutenant  Gibbs  in  Chili,  whilst  his  associate.  Lieutenant 
McRae,  has  explored  the  route  across  the  Andes,  from  Chili  to 
the  Pampas  of  the  La  Plata. 

Lieutenant  Strain  and  Capt.  Gibbon  were  sent  to  explore  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien,  to  ascertain  whether  it  is  possible  to  make 
an  inter-oceanic  ship-canal  or  not  across  it, — a  point  which 
needs  to  be  settled,  and  which  bids  fair  to  be  so  before  long. 

Commodore  Perry  has  been  sent  to  explore  the  Island  of 
Japan  and  its  vicinity,  as  well  as  make  a  treaty  of  commerce 
with  the  Japanese  government. 

Capt.  Ringgold  is  engaged  in  exploring  the  north-eastern 
coast  of  Asia,  and  the  northern  portion  of  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
•with  a  fleet  of  five  vessels,  admirably  "  appointed." 

Lieutenant  Berryman,  in  the  U.  S.  ship  Dolpliin,  has  been 
engaged  in  sounding  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and  has  made  many 
important  discoveries,  which  show  the  practicability  of  laying 
a  sub-marine  telegraph  between  America  and  Europe,  by  way 


400  SUPPLEMENT. 

of  Newfoundland  and  Ireland,  where  the  distance  is  shortest 
and  the  ocean  the  shallowest. 

Much  has  been  done  to  explore  the  great  Lakes  of  North 
America,  and  some  important  points  have  been  settled. 

Interesting  explorations  have  been  made  on  the  western 
coast  of  Africa  by  American  naval  officers  and  missionaries,  and 
on  the  north-central  portions  of  that  continent,  by  Dr.  I3arth 
and  others,  within  a  few  years. 

A  very  important  congress  of  scientific  men  was  held  in  the 
year  1853  at  Brussels,  in  relation  to  the  currents  of  the  air 
and  of  the  sea,  at  the  instance  of  Lieutenant  Maury. 

Two  or  three  small  planets,  or  asteroids,  have  been  discover- 
ed since  1850,  and  one  or  two  comets. 

The  preceding  brief  sketch  is  all  that  our  limits  allow  to 
what  concerns  the  progress  of  the  world  during  the  last  three 
or  four  years  in  interests  which  may  be  called  material^  in  con- 
tradistinction to  those  which  are  religious. 


PART  11. 
UNITED    STATES. 


THE  RELIGIOUS   PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORLD   SINCE   THE 
YEAR  1850. 

^  In  our  own  country  that  progress  has  been  eminently  cheer- 
ing. Without  exception,  so  far  we  know,  the  Societies  and 
Boards  for  home  missions  have  greatly  increased  their  opera- 
tions, as  well  as  their  receipts,  during  that  period.  This  in- 
crease has  been  regular,  year  by  year,  and  therefore  stable  and 
reliable.     The  same  has  been  true  of  the  Publication,  Ed iica- 


SUPPLEMENT.  401 

tion  and  Sunday  School  Societies  and  Boards.  Of  this  the 
Bible  Societies,  and  the  Tract  and  Book  Societies  and  Boards, 
are  remarkable  illustrations. 

The  increase  of  Evangelical  churches,  of  various  denomina- 
tions, in  all  j^arts  of  the  country,  especially  in  the  great  west, 
has  been  uniform,  and  in  the  latter  rapid  and  extraordinary. 
The  world  has  seen  few  instances  to  compare  with  the  growth, 
in  number  at  least,  of  Christian  congregations  in  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Minnesota  and  Texas. 
But  great  as  this  has  been,  it  has  been  outdone  by  what  has 
taken  place  in  California,  where  there  is  now  a  permanent  pop- 
ulation of  near  a  quarter  of  a  million,  and  among  them  more 
than  120  ministers  of  the  gospel.  San  Francisco  has  now 
60,000  inhabitants,  18  churches,  about  8,000  church-members, 
1,250  children  in  schools !  And  yet  it  was  only  in  the  year 
1849  and  50  that  the  foundations  of  society  were  commenced, 
if  we  may  so  speak,  in  that  "  land  of  gold."  Under  every 
disadvantage,  the  institutions  of  Christianity,  the  Sabbath,  the 
church,  the  ministry,  the  Sabbath  school  and  Bible  class,  have 
gained  a  solid  footing  in  Cahfornia.  The  same  thing  is  true 
of  Oregon  and  Washington  territories,  the  other  portions  of 
our  country  which  border  on  the  Pacific  ocean. 

We  subjoin  notices  of  the  religious  Societies  and  Boards  of 
our  country,  and  their  most  recent  statistics.  The  reader  will 
see  at  a  glance  the  progress  which  these  have  made  within  the 
last  three  or  four  years,  by  comparing  these  statements  with 
those  found  in  this  volume  on  pages  397-414. 

American  Bible  Society  :  The  receipts  of  this  society  for 
the  year  ending  April  1st,  1854,  were  $394,340  ;  its  publica- 
tions were  862,000  Bibles  and  Testaments.  The  issues  of  the 
society  from  its  origin,  in  1816,  to  April,  1854,  were  9,903, 751 
copies  of  the  sacred  Volume. 

American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society:  Receipts  in  1853 
and  1854,  $46,390.     The  issues,  51,032  volumes.     The  whole 


402  SUPPLEMENT. 

number  of  copies  of  the  Word  of  God  published  by  this  society 
has  exceeded  half  a  milhon. 

American  Bible  Union:  Receipts  in  1853  (Oct.  1st), 
$23,392.  Re\dsions  are  in  progress  in  the  Enghsh,  French, 
Spanish,  Itahan.  German,  and  Siamese  Scriptures. 

American  Tract  Society  :  Receipts  in  1853-54,  ^415,370 
(of  which  $156,033  were  from  donations  and  legacies) ;  its 
issues,  10,334,718  (of  which  1,046,544  were  volumes),  mak- 
ing a  total,  from  the  first,  of  148,228,198  publications,  (of 
which  9,463,374  were  volumes).  Its  monthly  sheets  were: 
American  Messenger^  more  than  200,000  copies ;  ChilcVs 
Faper^  more  than  250,000 ;  and  German  Messenger^  about 
25,000.     Number  of  colporteurs  employed,  619. 

Board  of  Publication  of  the  General  Assembly  (0.  S.) 
OF  THE  Presbyterian  Church  :  Receipts  in  1853-54,  $103,544 
(of  which  $77,648  were  from  sales  of  books) ;  number  of  copies 
of  books  and  tracts  published  last  year,  595,750  ;  colporteurs 
employed,  151,  who  visited  65,734  families,  and  sold  91,885 
volumes. 

American  Baptist  Publication  Society  (of  the  North) : 
Receipts  in  1853-54,  $49,612  (of  which  $35,218  were  from  the 
sale  of  books,  &c.)  This  Society  has  published  450  different 
works  (of  which  208  are  bound  volumes).  Of  the  tracts,  218 
are  in  English,  15  in  German,  and  3  in  French.  Its  issues 
were  more  than  30,000,000  pages  last  year. 

American  Baptist  Publication  Society  (of  the  South) : 
Receipts  in  1853,  $21,000. 

American  Sunday  School  Union  :  Receipts  for  the  year 
1853-54,  $296,625  (of  which  $66,465  w^ere  from  donations 
and  legacies,  and  the  remainder  from  sales  of  books  and  other 
sources).  The  society  employed  in  the  course  of  the  year  322 
missionaries,  who  formed  2,012  schools  in  thirty  different  States 
and  territories,  and  visited  and  revived  2,961  others, — embrac- 
ing in  all  39,112  teachers,  and  235,975  scholars.     The  society 


SUPPLEMENT.  403 

gave  away  books,  (fcc,  to  new  and  poor  schools,  to  the  value 
of  821,740. 

Tract  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  : 
Eeceipts  in  1853  (its  first  year),  $16,407.  Tracts  on  its  cata- 
logue, 614. 

Methodist  Sunday  School  Society:  Receipts  in  1853, 
$9,584.  This  society  has  9,438  schools;  525,008  pupils  in 
thera,  instructed  by  102,732  teachers. 

Massachusetts  Sabbath  School  Union  :  Receipts  in 
1853-54,  834,965  (of  which  $28,976  were  from  the  sale  of 
books,  and  85,989  from  donations) ;  38  new  works  publi-shed 
during  the  year. 

Southern  Baptist  and  Home  Missionary  Board  :  Re- 
ceipts in  1853,  816, 5S7. 

American  Home  Missionary  Society:  Receipts  for  the 
year  1853-54,  8191,209;  number  of  missionaries  employ- 
ed, 1,047,  who  labored  in  27  States  and  territories, — 65  of 
whom  preached  the  gospel  in  foreign  languages,  and  10  to 
congregations  of  colored  people. 

Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society  (of  the  North) : 
Receipts  for  1853-54,  $62,730;  missionaries  employed,  184, 
laboring  in  14  States  and  territories,  who  organized  67 
churches,  and  baptized  1,322  persons;  22  church-edifices  were 
erected,  and  24  commenced. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Society  for  promoting  Evan- 
gelical Knowledge  :  Receipts  in  1853,  $8,237. 

Board  of  (Domestic)  Missions  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  the  Presbyterian  Church  :  Receipts  in  1853-54 
875,207.  Number  of  missionaries  employed,  523;  number  of 
members  in  the  churches  to  which  they  ministered,  21,060  ; 
of  children  in  Sabbath  schools,  22,387. 

Board  of  Domestic  Missions  of  the  Ref.  Prot.  Dutch 
Church  :  Receipts  in  1853-54,  $15,257  ;  sustained  70  churches 


404  SUPPLEMENT. 

and  stations,  received  450  members,  and  had  4,000  children  in 
Sabbath  schools. 

Board  of  (Domestic)  Mrssioxs  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church:  Receipts  in  1853,  $23,856;  had  87 
stations,  and  82  missionaries.  We  are  not  able  to  give  the 
statistics  of  the  Boards  of  the  Prot.  Epis.  Church  for  1854,  be- 
cause they  do  not  hold  their  anniversaries  until  the  autumn. 

American  Female  Guardian  Society  :  Receipts  in 
1853-54,  $14,090.  This  society  cares  for  destitute  children, 
for  whom  it  has  opened  in  New  York  a  "  Home  of  the  Friend- 
less," into  which  more  than  1,500  persons  were  received  last  year. 

American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  :  Receipts  in 
1853-54,  from  all  sources,  $136,802.  The  Union  has  21 
missions,  86  stations  and  539  out-stations,  G6  missionaries,  64 
female  assistants,  220  native  missionaries  and  assistants,  192 
churches  (in  which  are  15,219  members,  of  whom  1,820  were  re- 
ceived last  year),  88  schools  and  14  normal  and  boarding-schools, 
with  1,992  pupils,  and  printing  presses  at  all  its  chief  missions. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions :  Receipts  for  1853  were  $314,922;  it  has  28  missions, 
111  stations  and  138  out-stations,  161  ordained  missionaries, 
and  27  assistant  and  219  female  missionaries, — in  all  407,  who 
are  Americans.  It  has  also  39  native  preachers,  192  other 
native  helpers,  11  printing  establishments,  9  seminaries,  23 
boarding-schools  and  712  other  schools,  23,000  pupils,  103 
churches,  and  nearly  26,000  members,  in  heathen  and  uncivil- 
ized countries. 

Board  of  Missions  of  the  Ref.  Prot,  Dutch  Church: 
Receipts  in  1853-54,  $13,021.  This  board  co-operates  with 
the  American  Board. 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Prot.  Episcopal 
Church:  Receipts  in  1853,  $46,720;  had  16  ordained  mis- 
sionaries, 28  assistants,  2  physicians,  12  native  teachers,  and 
800  pupils  in  schools. 


supplement.  405 

Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church:  Receipts  in  1853,  $228,427;  those  of  1854  will 
probably  not  fall  much  short  of  $260,000.  But  this  society  is 
a  foreign  as  well  as  home  missionary  society,  and  its  operations 
relate  to  both  fields.  In  the  foreign  field  it  had  last  year  34 
ordained  missionaries,  and  in  the  home  field  654  missionaries. 
This  Society  places  its  missions  among  the  Indians  and  the  Ger- 
mans, and  other  foreigners,  in  the  domestic  field.  This  increases 
the  number  of  missionaries  in  that  field  to  QQQ>,  who  have  in 
their  churches  nearly  50,000  members. 

Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  (South)  :  Receipts  in  1853,  more  than  $165,000  ;  mis- 
sionaries in  the  destitute  portions  of  the  regular  work  109,  among 
the  people  of  color  117,  among  the  Germans  11,  among  the 
Indians  28,  and  in  China  3,  — in  all  (at  home  and  abroad)  268. 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church:  Receipts  in  1853-54,  $174,453.  The  Board  has 
27  separate  missions,  59  ordained  missionaries,  3  licentiates, 
109  male  and  female  assistant  missionaries,  29  native  helpers, 
26  churches  and  500  native  members,  53  schools,  4,050  pupils, 
and  6  printing  presses. 

Southern  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Board  :  Receipts 
in  1853,  $21,438. 

American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union  :  Receipts  in 
1853-54,  upwards  of  $75,000,  and  its  missionaries  were  130, 
of  whom  90  labored  for  the  benefit  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in 
this  country,  and  the  remainder  in  papal  lands, — Canada, 
Hayti,  South  America,  Ireland,  France,  Belgium  and  Italy. 

American  Seamen's  Friend  Society  :  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
$27,724.  The  society  has  chaplains  in  many  foreign  countries, 
in  addition  to  its  operations  at  home. 

American  Missionary  Association  :  Receipts  in  1853 
(Sept.  1st),  $42,496  ;  18  missionaries  in  the  foreign  field  and  54 
other  laborers,  13  churches;  in  the  home  field  92  laborers. 


406  SUPPLEMENT. 

Southern  Aid-Society  :  Receipts  during  tlie  year  (its  first) 
probably  $5,000.  It  aids  in  supporting  feeble  churches  in  tlie 
Southei'n  States      The  anniversary  occurs  in  the  autumn. 

American  Anti-Slavery  Society:  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
$11,105. 

American  and  Foreign  Anti-Slavery  Society  :  The  re- 
port for  1854  states  that  upwards  of  $15,000  worth  of  books 
have  been  sold  at  the  depository  of  the  Society  in  two  years, 
but  mentions  no  other  receipts. 

American  Society  fou  meliorating  the  Condition  of 
TH15  Jews:  Receipts  for  1853-54,  $13,216.  The  society  em- 
ployed last  year  8  missionaries  and  8  colporteurs,  and  distrib- 
uted many  tracts  and  Bibles. 

American  Colonization  Society:  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
$82,458.  This  society  sent  783  colored  people  to  Liberia  last 
year.  But  this  does  not  inchide  the  operations  of  the  Main- 
land Colonization  Society  and  some  others. 

American  Education  Society:  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
$21,360.  The  society  supported  297  beneficiaries.  The  Cen- 
tral American  Education  Society,  an  auxiliary,  received 
$9,200,  and  supported  53  beneficiaries.  The  Collegiate 
Education  Society  received  $20,931,  and  extended  aid  to  11 
colleges,  all  in  the  West. 

Board  of  Education  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  :  Receipts  in  1853-54,  $45,687  ;  num- 
ber of  its  beneficiaries,  340.  Of  the  receipts,  $10,726  were 
appropriated  to  the  support  of  pai'ochial  schools. 

American  Peace  Society:  Receipts  in  1853-54,  $5,051. 

The  above  statistical  view  of  the  institutions  in  the  United 
States  whose  object  is  to  promote  the  extension  of  the  Mes- 
siah's kingdom,  directly  or  indirectly,  is  far  from  including  all 
those  influences  which  appertain  to  this  great  subject.  It  is 
encouraging  to  be  able  to  say  that,  so  far  us  we  know,  all  the 
religious  societies  of  the  United  States  have  advanced  since 


SUPPLEMENT.  407 

1850  ;  whilst  some  new  organizations  have  sprung  up  of  no 
little  importance.  Among  these  we  must  place  the  "  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations."  Within  the  last  two  or  three 
years  they  have  come  into  existence.  Their  object  is  to  bring 
together  religious  and  well-disposed  young  men  in  our  cities 
and  towns,  and  organize  them  into  associations  for  benefiting 
in  many  ways  the  young  men  with  whom  they  may  come  in 
contact.  We  learn  from  the  first  annual  report  of  the  "  Young- 
Men's  Christian  Association  of  Washington  city,"  which  is  an 
admirable  one  in  all  respects,  that  there  are  32  similar  societies 
in  the  United  States,  embracing,  it  is  beheved,  10,000  young 
men,  of  whom,  probably,  8,000  are  professing  Christians,  and 
very  nearly  all  members  of  Evangelical  churches.  These  asso- 
ciations are  exerting  a  most  happy  influence  in  New  York, 
Boston,  Baltimore,  New  Orleans,  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  Port- 
land, Chicago,  San  Francisco,  and  many  other  places.  It  is 
hoped  that  they  will  be  established  in  all  our  principal  towns, 
as  well  as  in  the  cities. 

During  the  last  three  or  four  years  very  large  sums  have 
been  raised  in  all  sections  of  our  country  for  the  endowing  of 
theological  seminaries,  colleges,  female  seminaries,  academies, 
ifec.,  as  well  as  to  found  humane  institutions.  These  efforts 
have  far  exceeded  anything  ever  seen  before  in  this  land. 

FOREIGN  COUNTEIES. 

It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  we  have  to  state  that  decided 
progress  has  been  made  in  all  that  concerns  the  kingdom  of 
our  Lord,  and  the  best  interests  of  humanity,  in  other  lands. 

IN   THE    BRITISH   POSSESSIONS    IN    AMERICA. 

In  the  Canadas,  and  other  British  provinces  in  North  Amer- 
ica, there  has  been  great  advancement.     Not  only  are  all  the 


408  SUPPLEMENT. 

Evangelical  branches  of  the  one  true  church  of  Christ  making 
animated  efforts  in  the  missionary  anci  every  other  good  enter- 
prise, for  the  benefit  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Protestant  peo[)le 
in  those  provinces,  but  also  for  the  French  as  well  as  Irish 
Romanists.  Among  the  former,  the  labors  of  the  French 
Canadian  Missionary  Society  at  Montreal,  and  the  Grande 
Ligne  Mission,  have  been  eminently  successful  and  encouraging. 
The  truth  is  gaining  a  permanent  foot  hold  among  the  French 
population  of  Canada-East.  Several  hundreds  of  families  have 
turned  away  from  Romanism,  and  are  now  brought  under  the 
influences  of  the  true  gospel.  The  efforts  of  the  Independents, 
Wesleyan  Methodists,  Baptists  and  Presbyterians,  in  Canada- 
West,  to  found  institutions  to  train  up  ministers  of  the  gospel, 
are  worthy  of  all  praise.  We  wish  we  could  report  as  decided 
progress  in  the  West  India  Islands,  but  we  cannot.  Neverthe- 
less, we  believe  that  true  religion  is  advancing  there. 


IN  THE   EASTERN  HEMISPHERE. 

There  has  been  much  to  encourage  in  relation  to  the  state 
and  prospects  of  religion  in  the  Old  World  during  the  last  four 
years.  Every  year,  the  work  of  missions  has  been  prosecuted 
with  increasing  vigor.  In  Asia,  several  hundred  missionaries 
are  laboring  to  spread  the  gospel, — in  China,  in  Burmah,  in 
Siam,  in  India,  in  Persia  and  in  Asia  Minor.  In  some  of 
these  countries  the  "  way  of  the  Lord  "  is  becoming  wonder- 
fully prepared,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  appearance  of  things. 
This  is  so  in  Asia  Minor  (among  the  nominal  Christians),  in 
India,  and,  above  all,  in  China,  where  a  revolution,  most  ex- 
traordinary in  its  origin  and  in  the  religious  principles  of  some 
of  its  leaders,  is  going  on. 

In  Africa,  too,  there  is  much  to  encourage,  in  regard  especially 
to  the  missions  on  the  Western  coast,  in  and  around  Sierra 
Leone,  the  Republic  of  Liberia,  Cape  Palmas,  and  still  further 


SUPPLEMENT.  409 

south,  in  the  country  of  the  Ashantees,and  in  the  British  possess- 
ions in  the  southern  part  of  the  continent ;  on  the  south-eastern 
coast ;  and,  to  some  extent,  in  Egypt  and  Algeria, — in  the  two 
latter,  among  the  nominal  Christians. 

Whilst,  as  it  relates  to  the  insular  world,  lying  south  and 
east  of  Asia,  there  is  much  that  is  full  of  promise.  There  is  a 
great  and  good  work  going  on  in  the  Sandwich,  Society,  Fegee, 
and  other  small  islands  in  the  Pacific.  But,  above  all,  there  is 
the  spread  of  the  truth  in  New  Zealand  among  the  native  pop- 
ulation, where  the  gospel  has  had  amazing  success  within  the 
last  four  years.  And  what  shall  we  say  of  New  Holland  and 
Van  Diemen's  Land,  where  are  now  to  be  found  one  million  of 
people,  gone  thither  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  especially 
from  the  "  British  Isles," — within  a  few  years  most  of  them, — 
in  quest  of  gain,  and  especially  of  gold,  which  so  much  abounds 
in  Australia,  as  New  Holland  is  now  more  commonly  called. 
The  efforts  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  and  the  Wesleyans 
and  Independents  of  England,  to  send  ministers  of  the  gospel 
into  those  new  regions,  are  worthy  of  all  praise.  All  these 
things  indicate  progress  in  the  best  sense. 

It  is  also  cheering  to  see  that  the  good  work  of  God  in 
Europe  suffers  no  abatement.  Religion  is  advancing  on  the 
Continent,  as  well  as  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The  Truth 
is  gaining  ground  in  France,  Belgium,  Sardinia,  — papal  coun- 
tries,— as  well  as  recovering  lost  influence  in  Holland,  Germany, 
Switzerland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  Finland,  and  Hun- 
gary. We  hope,  too,  that  good  will  result,  at  least  to  Turkey, 
from  the  present  war  in  the  East. 

The  great  Evangelical  Alliance  meeting  in  England  in  1851, 
and  those  in  Germany  of  the  Evangelical  Christians,  held  every 
autumn,  have  contributed  much  to  arouse  those,  in  both  coun- 
tries, who  love  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord,  to  increased  exertion, 
as  well  as  earnest  prayer. 

These  general  remarks  must  suffice  to  prepare  the  way  for 


410  SUPPLEMENT. 

the  following  statistical  notices  of  the  chief  Religious  Societies 
of  the  Old  World.     We  begin  with 


GREAT  BRITAIN. 

British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society:  This  society  has 
completed  an  existence  of  50  years.  Its  receipts  for  the  year 
1853-54,  from  ordinary  sources,  were  £125,665  18s.  lOd.,  or 
nearly  $610,000.  To  this  must  be  added,  £66,507  Is.  lOd., 
subscribed  for  the  "Jubilee  Fund,"  and  £30,485  19s.  3d.  for 
"  Chinese  New  Testament  Fund," — making  a  grand  total  of 
£222,659  5s.  lOd.,  almost  $1,08'7,T00.  Its  issues,  at  home 
and  abroad,  were  1,367,528, — making  its  total  issues  in  50 
years  amount  to  27,938,631  copies  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 

Wesleyan  Missionary  Society  :  Receipts  for  the  year 
ending  Dec.  31,  1853,  were  £114,498  14s.  3d.,  or  nearly 
$554,000.  This  society  has  367  principal  stations  or  circuits, 
connected  with  which  are  3,116  chapels  and  other  preaching 
places,  which  are  supplied  by  507  missionaries  and  assistant 
missionaries,  who  are  aided  by  703  paid  agents,  (as  catechists, 
interpreters,  school  teachers,  &c.,)  and  by  8,779  unpaid  agents, 
(as  local  preachers,  Sunday  school  teachers,  etc.)  The  number 
of  church  members  in  these  missions  is  110,228,  besides  4,873 
on  probation.  The  number  of  pupils  in  Sunday  and  day 
schools  is  78,811.  The  society  has  missions  in  Ireland,  France, 
Spain,  Germany,  Africa,  Asia,  Australia,  Van  Diemen's  Land, 
New  Zealand,  West  Indies,  Canada,  and  other  countries. 

Sunday  School  Union  :  It  was  stated  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  this  society  (whose  income  amounts  to  only  a  few 
thousand  pounds  sterhng),  that  there  were  in  1851,  according 
to  the  census,  in  England  and  Wales  (whose  population  was 
17,905,831),  23,498  Sunday  schools,  302,000  teachers,  and 
3,407,409  scholars, — a  fact  which  calls  for  devout  thankfulness 
to  Almighty  God. 


SUPPLEMENT.  411 

Church  Missionary  Society:  Receipts  in  1853  and  1854 
£123,915  18s.  lid.,  (about  $600,000.)  The  society  has  118 
stations,  103  English  clergymen,  49  foreign  and  24  native 
clergymen,  in  its  service, — making  a  total  of  1*76.  There  are 
also  in  connection  with  the  society  30  European  laymen,  school- 
masters, &c.,  14  European  female  teachers,  (exclusive  of  mis- 
sionaries' wives'),  1,661  native  and  country-born  catechists 
(exclusive  of  two  principal  stations,  from  which  returns  had  not 
come  to  hand),  107,000  attendants  on  Christian  worship,  and 
17,124  communicants. 

London  City  Mission:  Receipts  in  1853-54,  £27,484 
19s.  4d.,  (nearly  $135,000.)  This  society  employs  many  mis- 
sionaries, mostly  laymen,  who  made  during  the  year  1,439,318 
visits  (of  which  122,722  were  to  the  sick),  which  was  199,000 
more  than  the  preceding  year.  The  number  of  prayer-meet- 
ings held  was  23,035. 

British  Society  for  the  Propagation  op  the  Gospel 
AMONG  the  Jews:  Receipts  last  year  (its  eleventh),  £4,816 
7s.  6d.,  (or  nearly  $23,400.)  The  society  occupies  some  15  or 
20  stations. 

Naval  AND  Military  Bible  Society:  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
£2,346  I7s.  lid.,  (or  $11,350.)  It  distributed  26,974 
copies  of  the  Word  of  God  kst  year  among  the  soldiers  and 
seamen  of  the  royal  army  and  navy  of  the  realm. 

London  Missionary  Society  :  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
£77,385  Is.  6d.,  (or  nearly  $385,600.)  This  society  had  174 
ordained  missionaries  in  the  field  (including  7  natives),  and 
"upwards  of  600  native  assistants,  catechists,  school  teachers, 
colporteurs,  &c.  There  are  150  churches  connected  with  the 
society,  with  more  than  16,000  communicants,  and  30,000 
pupils  in  day  schools,  and  nearly  900  in  boarding  schools. 

Religious  Tract  Society  (of  London)  :  Receipts  in  the 
year  1853-54,  £74,374  l7s.  lOd.,  (nearly  $374,500;)  and  the 


412  SUPPLEMENT. 

issues  27,376,575  publications.  The  society  extends  its  opera- 
tions to  almost  every  country  in  the  world. 

Home  Missionary  Society:  Receipts  in  1853-54,  £5,343 
5s.  Id.,  ($25,961;)  122  stations,  396  chapels  aided. 

Colonial  Missionary  Society:  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
£5,782  17s.  lOd.,  (near  $27,985.)  The  society  extends  aid  to- 
Congi-egational  churches  in  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  New  South 
Wales,  Van  Diemen's  Land,  &c. 

Ragged  School  Union:  Receipts  in  1853-54,  £9,858, 
($47,743;)  number  of  schools  129,  teachers  280,  number  of 
children  in  the  Sunday  schools  13,100 ;  in  the  week-day 
schools  9,000 ;  in  the  evening  6,440.  This  society  is  accom- 
plishing great  good  ;  it  has  been  in  existence  but  three  or  four 
years. 

British  and  Foreign  School  Society:  Receipts,  £15,183, 
9s.  2d.,  (^73,436.)  This  society  had  341  young  men  and  young 
women  in  its  Normal  school  preparing  to  be  teachers,  and  1,031 
children  in  its  Model  schools  in  London;  86  teachers  went  forth 
from  its  walls  last  year,  and  aid  was  extended  to  many  schools, 
in  various  ways,  in  several  of  the  distant  possessions  of  England. 

Evangelical  Continental  Society:  Receipts,  £1,490 
19s.  lOd.,  ($7,222.)  This  society  aids  the  evangelical  societies 
of  France,  Geneva  and  Belgium,  the  churches  at  Lyons  and  in 
Italy. 

Church  Pastoral  Aid  Society:  Receipts,  £38,574  17s. 
9d.,  ($186,699.)  This  society  aided  343  "incumbents"  or 
pastors,  and  nearly  half  as  many  lay  assistants, — in  all  486, 
whose  ministrations  reach  to  more  than  2,700,000  souls. 

Irish  Evangelical  Society  :  Receipts  in  the  year  1853-54, 
£2,395,  ($11,531.)  This  society  belongs  to  the  Independents, 
and  aids  several  missionaries  in  Ireland. 

Prayer  Book  and  Homily  Society  :  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
£2,105  4s.  3d.,  ($10,188.)  This  society  aids  in  publishing  the 
prayer  book  of  the  Established  Church,  not  only  in  English, 


SUPPLEMENT.  413 

but  also  in  the  French,  Itahan,  modern  Greek,  Irish,  German, 
Chinese,  Hindustanee,  and  other  languages. 

London  Society  for  promoting  Christianity  amongst 
THE  Jews:  Receipts  in  the  years  1853-54,  £31,644  18s., 
($153,156.)  The  society  published  last  year  2,086  Hebrew 
Bibles,  6,412  portions  of  the  Bible  in  Hebrew,  and  1,068 
Hebrew  New  Testaments.  It  also  sustained  6  students  in  its 
college,  several  schools,  and  a  goodly  band  of  missionaries, 
most  of  them  on  the  Continent. 

Baptist  Missionary  Society  :  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
£24,759  12s.  9d.,  ($119,833.)  This  society  supports  a  large 
number  of  missionaries  in  India,  in  the  West  Indies,  and  other 
parts  of  the  world. 

Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society:  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
£4,376  lis.  3d.,  ($21,179.)  This  society  has  101  central  sta- 
tions, 134  sub-stations,  and  a  considerable  staff  of- missionaries. 

Chinese  Evangelization  Society:  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
£2,060  16s.,  ($9,970.) 

Church  of  England  Education  Society:  Receipts  in 
1853-54  (its  first  year),  £4,834  3s.  lOd.,  ($23,330.)  This 
society  trains  up  teachers  for  schools  on  evangelical  principles. 

Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign" 
Parts:  Receipts  in  1852  were  £131,982  ($638,792),  of 
which  £63,504  ($307,359)  were  from  subscriptions  and  lega- 
cies.    Its  missionaries,  lay-teachers,  and  students,  were  1,160. 

Hibernian  Bible  Scgiety:  Receipts  in  1853-54,  £4,139 
19s.  lOd.,  ($20,033  ;)  and  its  issues  101,197  copies  of  Bibles 
and  New  Testaments, — making  a  total  of  2,239,624  since  its 
formation. 

Trinitarian  Bible  Society  :  Receipts  in  1853-54,  £2,9^8 
14s.  4d.,  ($13,337  ;)  issues,  10,876  Bibles  and  New  Testa- 
ments. 

Society  for  Irish  Church  Missions  :  Receipts  in  1853-54, 
£37,182  13s.  8d.,  ($179,961.)     This  society  employed  in  Ire- 


414  SUPPLEMENT. 

land  last  year  59  ordained  ministers,  326  lay-agents  and 
readers,  161  school  teachers,  36  agents  of  local  committees, 
446  local  teachers;  total,  1,028. 

Colonial  Church  and  School  Society  :  Receipts  in 
1853-54,  £12,000  ($58,080).  This  society  employed  34 
clergymen,  85  catechists  or  schoolmasters,  34  female  teachers ; 
and  aids  "  training  schools  "  at  Montreal  and  Halifax. 

MISSIONARY  EFFORTS   OF  SCOTLAND. 

The  Synod  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  :  This 
body  raised  in  the  year  1853-54,  £6,100  13s.  4d.  for  home 
missions,  and  £15,180  12s.  8 d.  for  foreign  missions; — total, 
£21,287  6s.  Od.,  ($113,031.)  In  the  home  field,  85  congrega- 
tions were  aided.  In  the  foreign  field,  the  society  has  mission- 
aries in  Calabar  (India),  and  in  Canada.  In  the  latter,  it  sup- 
ports 48  minister,  and  a  theological  college  with  9  students. 
It  gave  £900  to  aid  the  work  in  France,  Belgium,  and  Italy. 

Established  Church  of  Scotland  :  This  body  raised  in 
the  year  1853-54  the  sura  of  £5,553  13s.  9d.  for  missions  in 

India  ;  £3,523  7s.  3d.  for  missions  in  the  colonies  ;  £ 

for  Jewish  missions ;  £32,408  3s.  4d.  for  the  endowment 
of  churches;  £3,597  4s.  9d.  for  home  missions;  and  £S, 772 
2s.  2d.  for  schools ; — total  (without  including  the  fund  for  the 
Jewish  mission,  of  which  we  have  not  seen  the  amount), 
£50,256  15s.  lid.,  (or  nearly  $243,240.)  The  General  As- 
sembly of  this  church  has  several  missionaries  in  India,  and  a  con- 
siderable number  in  Canada  and  other  colonies.  It  has  three  mis- 
sionaries laboring  among  the  Jews  in  Germany,  and  two  or  three 
elsewhere.  It  sustains  48  churches  at  home,  and  is  constantly 
taking  measures  for  their  endowment ;  and  has  a  large  number 
of  schools  in  parishes  where  the  parish  schools  are  not  sufficient. 

The  Free  Church  of  Scotland  :  This  body  raised  during 
the  year  which  ended  March  31st,  1854, 


SUPPLEMENT. 


415 


I.  For  the  Sustentation  Fund, 


11.  Building  Fund, 


III.  Congregational  Fund, 

IV.  Missions  and  Education, 
V.  Miscellaneous,      .     .     . 

Total,    . 
equal  to  $1,391,859. 

The  missions  of  this  body  among  the  heathen,  among  the 
Jews,  in  papal  lands,  in  the  colonies,  and  at  home,  are  exten- 
sive and  prosperous. 


£97,352  83.  3d. 
37,375  3s.  3d. 
83,504  14s.  Id. 
46,232  5s.  8d. 
23,111     Is.  Id. 


£287,574  12s.  4d. 


IRELAND. 

"We  are  unable  to  give  the  statistics  of  the  missions  of  the 
churches  in  Ireland  that  are  not  included  in  those  of  England. 
The  most  important  are  those  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  which  is  mainly  in  the  northern  end  of 
the  island.  It  is  known  that  that  body  is  entering  with  more 
and  more  zeal  into  every  good  work,  at  home  and  abroad. 


FRANCE. 

The  following  tabular  statement  gives  us  the  receipts  for 
1853-54  of  the  various  religious  societies  among  the  Protest- 
ants in  France,  which  have  their  centres  and  seat  of  direction 
(and  they  are  nearly  the  whole)  in  the  city  of  Paris  : 

Receipts. 

Agricultural  Colony  at  St.  Foy, 
French  Protestant  History  Society, 
Religious  Tract  Society,     . 
Protestant  Bible  Society,    . 


Protestant  Sou  Society, 
Evangelical  Society,       .     . 
Foreign  Missionary  Society, 


42,284  francs. 

19,723  " 

67,658  " 

47,685  " 

21,197  " 

128,239  " 

84,000  « 


416  SUPPLEMENT. 

Receipts. 

Sunday  School  Society, 1,665  francs. 

French  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  .     .  99,662      *' 
Central  Protestant  Evangelical  Society,  67,179      " 
Protestant  Society  for  Primary  Instruc- 
tion,        62,218      " 

Evangelical  Alliance, 759      " 

Deaconess'  Institution  (estimated),    .     .  60,000      " 
Society  for  the  ReHef  of  Liberated  Convicts,     5,207      " 

706,464  francs, 
or  $132,650.     There  has  been  a  steady  and  decided  gain  in 
the  cause  of  Christian  benevolence  and  effort  in  France,  from 
year  to  year,  since  1850. 

SWITZERLAIfD. 

The  two  most  important  missionary  societies  in  Switzerland 
are: 

I.  The  Evangelical  Society  of  Geneva,  whose  receipts  last 
year  were  about  150,000  francs  (or  $29,600),  which  employed 
about  40  laborers  in  France,  and  sustained  the  theological 
school  at  Geneva. 

II.  The  Basle  Missionary  Society,  whose  receipts  in  1853 
were  $60,000.  This  sociesy  has  33  missionaries  and  47  assist- 
ant missionaries  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  the  islands  in  the  Southern 
ocean.  Its  Missions-Institute  at  Basle,  founded  in  1818,  has 
educated  many  excellent  men,  among  them  Bishop  Gobat, 
Lacroix,  and  others. 

HOLLAND,    GERMANY,    AND    THE     SCANDINAVIAN 
COUNTRIES. 

In  all  these  countries  the  Bible  and  Tract  Societies  have 
greatly  increased  their  operations  within  the  last  few  years, — 
especially  the  former.     Several  millions  of  copies  of  the  Word 


SUPPLEMENT.  417 

of  God  have  been  distributed  in  them  since  1806,  and  chiefly 
since  1816.  There  are  foreign  missionary  societies  at  Berlin 
(where  there  are  two,  incUiding  Pastor  Gossner's),  Barmen, 
Bremen,  Rotterdam,  Hamburg,  Leipsic,  Christiania  and  Stock- 
holm, which  combinedly  support  128  missionaries  (all  in  Asia, 
Africa,  Netherlands-India  and  Australia),  and  22  assistant 
missionaries.  Of  these,  the  Netherlands  Society  supports  19, 
the  Swedish  1,  and  the  Norwegian  5.  Much  is  doing  for  the 
work  in  Germany  by  the  "  Inner  Missions,"  and  the  Gustavus 
Adolphus  Society. 

ITALY. 

In  Piedmont,  in  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  the  Waldensian 
Synod  is  doing  a  great  and  good  work,  and  the  Saviour  is 
setting  before  them  an  "open  door."  They  have  opened 
churches  or  chapels  at  Turin,  Pignerol,  Genoa,  Nice,  Casale, 
Favale,  and  several  other  places,  and  have  no  less  than  22 
missionaries  laboring  in  the  kingdom.  They  are  about  found- 
ing a  theological  seminary  at  La  Tour,  which  is  their  chief 
village,  and  where  they  have  a  college  with  94  young  men,  a 
grammar  school,  and  a  normal  school. 

CONCLUSION. 

We  may  state  in  conclusion,  that  it  is  estimated  that  there  are 
now  1,369  ordained  Protestant  missionaries,  934  assistants,  and 
2,73*7  native  helpers  in  the  world;  in  all  5,040  persons,  who, 
as  to  fields,  are  laboring  as  follows :  988  in  America,  includ- 
ing the  West  Indies;  2,786  in  Asia  ;  555  in  Africa  ;  and  714 
in  the  islands  in  the  Pacific  and  Southern  oceans.  More  than 
forty-jive  millions  of  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  have  been  published  by  the  Bible  Societies  since  the  year 
1804!  Let  God  be  praised.  And  let  His  people  redouble 
their  exertions  and  their  prayers. 


APPENDIX. 

TABULAE  VIEW  OF  MISSIONS: 

L— BY  MISSIOI^ARY  SOCIETIES. 

*^*  The  total  number  of  missionaries,  assistants,  and  stations, 
as  given  below,  may  be  taken  as  nearly  complete.  The  amount 
of  receipts  is  likewise  exact.  But  the  number  of  communicants 
is  necessarily  quite  incomplete ;  it  may,  however,  be  stated  in 
round  numbers  at  300,000  at  the  lowest  estimate. 


Societies.             Mission-  Ass'ts.  Stations. 

Communi- 

Scholars. 

Receipts. 

aries. 

cants. 

Gos.  Propagation 

355 

$444,700.00 

Eng.  Baptist  Miss. 

54 

324 

194 

5,008 

4,276 

95,719.00 

Gen.  Bapt.  Miss. 

8 

10 

7 

135 

106 

9,135.00 

London  Miss. 

171 

700 

103 

9,808* 

17,000* 

302,637.00 

Chm-ch  Miss, 

147 

1579 

106 

13,551 

32,268* 

504,685.00 

Eng.  Wesl.  Miss. 

427 

781 

324 

105,394 

78,548 

540,560.00 

Glasgow  Miss. 

8,095.00 

Scottish  Ch.  Miss. 

14 

7 

8 

2,131 

51,260.00 

Scot.  Free  Church 

37 

67 

22 

6,000 

100,681.00 

Scot.  Secess.  Ch. 

33 

9 

45,125.00 

Irish  Presb.  Ch. 

6* 

2* 

3* 

Eng.  Presb.  Ch. 

1* 

sev. 

1* 

French  Miss. 

10 

4 

10 

1,340 

850 

25,600.00 

Rhenish  Mi.s.s. 

43 

25 

1,400* 

500* 

25,630.00 

*  Returns  incomplete. 

420 

APPENDIX. 

Societies.                Mission- 

Ass'ts. 

stations. 

Communi- 

Scholars. 

Receipts. 

iries. 

cants. 

Basle  Missionary 

29 

20 

1,967* 

54,000.00 

Unit.  Breth.  Miss. 

282 

69 

70,000f 

53,540.00 

Berlin  Missionary 

11* 

7 

17,000.00 

Gosner's  Miss. 

19 

2 

3,630.00 

Dresden  Miss. 

4* 

2 

9,200.00 

Leipsic  Miss. 

6* 

3 

137* 

1,000 

8,000.00 

Hamburg  Miss. 

6 

2 

5 

5,000.00 

Stockholm  Miss. 

4.555.00 

Stavanger  Miss. 

4* 

3,365.00 

Korway  Miss. 

Netherlands  Miss. 

8* 

4* 

3^ 

130* 

27,000.00 

Am.  Board 

157 

360 

134 

25,875 

22,824 

251,339.35 

Am.  Bapt.  Union 

56 

250 

155 

12,500 

2,772 

87,537.20 

Presb.  Board  Miss. 

55 

43 

2S 

282 

1,709 

126,075.40 

Epis.  Board  Miss. 

10 

9* 

8 

96 

656 

36,114.11 

Methodist  Miss. 

84 

sev. 

8 

1,611 

38,193.14 

Am.  Miss.  Assoc. 

12 

31 

10 

380 

26,849.66 

Lutheran  Miss. 

5 

o 

268 

4,230.42 

Assoc.  Pres.  Church    5 

2 

3,182.32 

M.  E.  Cb.,  South 

5 

2 

6,000.00 

Baptist  Ch.,  South 

12 

24 

12 

320 

28,697.70 

Bapt.  Free  Miss. 

2 

5 

2 

6,571.81 

Free-WiU  Bapt. 

3 

7 

2 

130 

4.433.05 

Seventh- Day  Bapt. 

2 

1 

1,200.00 

88 


2033  4208  1280  247,867*  172,720  $2,959,541.16 


11— BY  COUNTRIES  AND  STATIONS. 


I.    WESTERN    AFRICA. 


Stations. 
Church  Missionary  Society, 

Mission- 
aries. 

Ass'ts.  Nat. 
Ass'ta 

Commu- 
1.   nic'ts. 

Schools, 

.  Scho- 
lars. 

Freetown, 

5 

2         8 

213 

9 

1727 

River  district, 

2 

1       25 

839 

14 

2126 

Mountain  district, 

3 

1       12 

722 

10 

1501 

•  Returns  incomplete. 

t  Tncludl 

iig  all  under 

roliffioua  instruction. 

APPENDIX. 

421 

Stations.                                       Mission- 

Ass'ts. Nat. 

Commu- 

Schools, 

.  Scho- 

aries. 

Ass'ts. 

uic'ls. 

lars. 

Sea  district, 

1 

1 

9 

280 

13 

854 

Timneh  mission, 

1 

2 

7 

o 

42 

Abbeokuta, 

4 

7 

102 

4 

324 

Badagrj, 

2 

2 

3 

20 

2 

94 

At  home, 

5 

Wesleyan  Missionary  Society, 

Sierra  Leone  district. 

7 

43 

4712 

16 

2958 

Gambia  district, 

8 

8 

476 

3 

751 

Cape  Coast  district. 

5 

66 

809 

23 

1014 

Baptist  Missionary  Society, 

Fernando  Po, 

2 

113 

Clarence,  <fec.. 

1 

4 

Bimbia,  <fec., 

3 

4 

1 

100 

Cameroons, 

1 

5 

6 

350 

Basle  Missionary  Society, 

Akropong, 

4 

1 

2 

70 

Danish  Accra, 

3 

1 

2 

128 

Hamburg  Missionary  Society, 

Cape  Coast,  &.C., 

1 

American  Board  of  Missions, 

Gaboon  River, 

5 

3 

22 

4 

67 

Am.  Baptist  Missionary  Union, 

Bassa  tribe. 

2 

5 

20 

3 

60 

American  Presbyterian  Board, 

Liberia, 

2 

2 

62 

3 

72 

Settra  Kroo, 

1 

3 

1 

16 

Near  the  Equator, 

2 

2 

Am.  Protestant  Episcopal  Board 

1, 

Liberia, 

5 

6 

sev. 

80 

6 

160 

Am.  M.  E.  Missionary  Society, 

Liberia, 

15 

sev. 

1117 

20 

810 

American  Missionary  Association, 

Mendi  country. 

3 

6 

3 

26 

1 

80 

Am.  Southern  Baptist  Board, 

Liberia, 

5 

12 

many 

1 

328 

Boporah, 

2 

1 

422 


APPENDIX. 


II.    SOUTHERN    AFllICA, 


Mission- 
iiries. 


Ass'la.  Nat.  Comma-  Schools.  Scho- 
Ass'ts.    uic'ls.  lara. 


Stations. 
Missions  of  United  Buethrex,* 

Gnadenthal ,  15 

Groenekloof,  8 

Robben  Island,  2 

Elira,  8 

Enon,  4 

Clarkson,  4 

Shiloli,  1 

Mamre,  4 

Goshen,  8 

London  Missionary  Society, 

Cape  Town,  2 

Paarl, 

Tulbagh, 

Caledon  Institution, 

Pacaltsdorp, 

Dysalsdorp, 

Hankey, 

Bethelsdorp, 

Port  Elizabeth, 

Uitenhage, 

Graham's  Town, 

Graaff  Reinet, 

Theopolis, 

Colesburg, 

Somerset, 

Kat  River, 

Tidmanton, 

Cradock, 

Long  Kloof, 
,     Fort  Beaufort, 

Buffalo  River, 

Knapp's  Hope, 

King  William's  Town, 

*  The  United  Brethren  include  among  their  missionaries  the  wives  of  such  as  aro 
married^ 
t  Including  all  who  are  under  religious  inatruction. 


890 

f2795 

344 

1347 

15 

43 

298 

1186 

92 

392 

320 

H 

691 

100 

23 

2    491 

100 

3    184 

73 

4    284 

262 

160 

70 

2    160 

110 

75 

186 

300 

98 

2     72 

230 

200 

220 

90 

231 

104 

64 

100 

59 

54 

40 

90 

123 

86 

41 

32 

106 

70 

110 

105 

5    237 

67 

62 

16 

30 

40 

60 

APPENDIX. 

423 

Stations. 

Mission- 
aries. 

Ass'ts 

.  Nat.  Commii- 
Ass'ts.   iiic'ts. 

Schools. 

Scho- 
lars. 

Griqua  Town, 

2 

540 

7 

435 

Lekatlong, 

1 

300 

100 

Philippolis, 

1 

353 

110 

Kuruman, 

8 

400 

158 

Mamusa, 

1 

115 

40 

Mabotsa, 

1 

n 

20 

Kolobeng, 

1 

Matebe, 

1 

20 

Wesleyan  Missionary  Society, 

Cape  of  Good  Hope  district 
— 9  stations, 

10 

24 

1439 

17 

2961 

Bechuana  district — 7  stations. 

7 

11 

597 

9 

925 

Albany  and  Kaffraria  dis- 
trict— 26  stations, 

} 

23 

70 

2329 

4396 

FuEE  Church  of  Scotland, 

Cape  Town, 

1 

1 

Lovedale, 

3 

3 

45 

1 

28 

Burnshill, 

1 

3 

•70 

Pirie, 

1 

2 

United  Scottish  Presb.  Church, 

Ciiumie,  (fee. 

2 

1 

8 

French  Missionary  Society, 

Carmel, 

1 

1 

35 

20 

Bethulia, 

1 

200 

6 

Beersheba, 

1 

391 

80 

Bethesda, 

1 

1 

23 

8 

Moriab, 

1 

1 

326 

46 

Berea, 

1 

27 

Thaba  Bossiou, 

1 

1 

114 

9 

Mekuatling, 

1 

73 

50 

Wellington, 

1 

41 

70 

Motito, 

1 

100 

Ehenish  Missionary  Society, 

Whale  Bay, 

1 

New  Barmen, 

2 

Rehoboth, 

1 

1 

100 

ISTama  Betbania, 

2 

1 

Steinkopff, 

1 

2 

86 

424                                                       APPENDIX. 

Stations. 

Mission-  Ass'ts,  Nat. 

Commu- 

Schools.  Scho- 

arics.              Ass'ls. 

uic'ts. 

lars. 

Ebenozer, 

2 

Wuppertlial, 

4 

61 

Araandelboom, 

2 

90 

Tulbagh-Steinthal, 

2         2 

44 

180 

Worcester, 

2 

140 

206 

Stellcnbosch  and  Sarepta, 

3         4 

229 

Berlin-  Missionary  Society, 

Zoar, 

1 

Platberg, 

1 

30 

Pniel, 

2 

Hebron, 

2 

Sharon, 

1 

- 

Port  Natal, 

2 

Stavanger  Missionary  Society, 

Port  Natal, 

4 

Gospel  Propagation  Society, 

Cape  Town, 

3         1 

Stellenbosch,  «fec.. 

12 

American  Board  of  Missions, 

Umvati  (12  stations,) 

12       20 

18 

8        186 

III.    EASTERN    AFRICA. 


Church  Missionary  Society, 

Rabbai  Mpia, 
London  Missionary  Society, 

Port  Louis  (Mauritius,) 


IV. 

THE    EAST. 

Church  Missionary  Societt, 

Greece— Syra, 

1 

1 

9 

14 

5 

462 

Asia  Minor — Smyrna, 

1 

1 

1 

Egypt — Cairo, 

2 

1 

4 

18 

2 

178 

Jews'  Society, 

Smyrna, 

1 

Salon  lea. 

1 

1 

Bucharest, 

1 

1 

Jerusalem, 

4 

6 

ArPENDIX. 

4L'o 

Stations. 

Mi 

ssion- 

Ass'ts 

Nat. 

Coramu-  S». 

hoola. 

Scho- 

aries. 

Ass'ta 

.   nic'ts. 

lurs. 

Safet, 

1 

Cairo, 

1 

1 

Bagdad,  (fee, 

2 

American  Board  of 

Missions, 

Armenians  : 

Constantinople, 

4 

5 

6 

105 

Bebek, 

2 

2 

2' 

Broosa, 

2 

2 

1 

Smyrna, 

3 

3 

4 

Trebizond, 

2 

2 

3 

-     132 

9 

159 

Erzeroom, 

2 

2 

1 

Aintab, 

2 

2 

Nicomedia,  &c., 

9. 

Syria  : 

Bf/yroot, 

2 

6 

3 

16 

3 

83 

Abeih, 

3 

3 

1 

3 

6 

111 

TripoU, 

2 

2 

1 

1 

15 

Aleppo, 

2 

2 

2 

12 

Mosul, 

2 

1 

Hasbeiya,  &c. 

7 

2 

50 

Nestorians: 

Oroomiah, 

3 

7 

9 

sev. 

33 

633 

Seir, 

2 

2 

4  hundreds. 

1 

44 

At  home, 

2 

2 

Am.  Protestant  Episcopal  Board, 

Athens, 

1 

2 

scv. 

450 

Am.  Baptist  Missionary  Union, 

Greece — Pirseus, 

1 

1 

\  - 

1 

60 

Corfu, 

1 

2 

Am.  Assoc.  Reformed  Church, 

Damascus, 

3 

4 

2 

V.   INDIA. 


Gospel  Propagation  Society, 

Calcutta, 

1 

"        (Bishop's  College,) 

1 

Howrah, 

2 

Tallygunge, 

2 

426 


APPENDIX. 


Stations. 

Barripore, 

Nerbudda, 

Cawnpore, 

Tamlook, 

Ahmedabad, 

Madras  Mission, 
Church  Missionauy  Society, 

Bombay, 

Nassuck,  Astagaum,  and  Mal- 
ligaum, 

Jnnir, 

Calcutta, 

Burdwan, 

Krishnaghur, 

Bhagulpur, 

^enares, 

Chunar, 

Jaunpore, 

Gorruckpore, 

Agra, 

Meerut, 

Kotghur, 

Madras, 

Tinnevelly  districts, 

Travancore  districts, 

Telugu, 

At  home, 
Baptist  Missionary  Society, 

Calcutta — Circ.  Road, 
"  Lai  Bazar, 

"  Kolinga, 

Intallj, 

Haura  and  Salkija, 

Nursikdachoke, 

Lakhyantipur, 

Khari, 

Malayapur, 

Dura  Dum, 

Serampore, 


Mission-  Ass'ts.  N.nt.  Commu-  Schools.  Scho- 


aries. 
2 

1 
1 
1 
1 
23 


Ass'ts.   iiic'tsw 


lura. 


1 

1 
4 
14 
17 
3 
4 

1 
2 
3 

2 

1 


14  205  15,042  169   4912 


23 
10 

4 

89 

11 

106 

31 
7 

16 

6 

12 

4 

7 

19 

425 

109 

18 


14 
29 


136 

54 

548 

74 

46 

19 

70 
153 

30 

4 

145 

2680  239 

889   63 

19    3 


16 

7 

3 

14 
9 

38 

6 
6 
4 
3 

10 
2 
6 
9 


883 
340 

150 
1169 

624 
1525 

456 

336 

409 

167 

833 

75 

67 

362 

6246 

2059 

127 


1 

140 

2 

120 

54 

2 

49 

3 

26 

180 

3 

52 

25 

3 

67 

100 

1 

48 

40 

1 

7 

45 

1 

25 

6 

127 

8 

750 

APPENDIX. 

427 

stations. 

Mission-  Ass'ts 

.  Nat. 

Commu- 

Schools. 

Pcho- 

aries. 

Ass'ts, 

.    nic'ta. 

iars. 

Cutwa, 

4 

31 

1 

10 

Suri,  Birbhum, 

3 

36 

2 

100 

Dinajpur, 

1 

18 

2 

86 

Jessore, 

10 

206 

4 

150 

Burisal, 

10 

177 

8 

150 

Dacca, 

4 

21 

Chittagong, 

7 

39 

2 

42 

Monghir, 

7 

49 

2 

90 

Benares, 

13 

20 

5 

270 

Agra, 

1 

119 

Saugor, 

1 

21 

Chitaura, 

4 

23 

2 

60 

Muttra, 

2 

9 

1 

60 

Delhi, 

2 

15 

Madras, 

2 

41 

3 

General  Baptist  Miss.  Society, 

Cuttack, 

2 

1 

141 

2 

120 

Choga, 

1 

50 

Khundita, 

2 

Piplee, 

2 

2 

Berhampore, 

2 

4 

44 

2 

58 

London  Missionary  Society, 

Calcutta, 

8 

8 

255 

12 

1148 

Berhampore, 

2 

1 

3 

115 

Benares, 

4         1 

380 

Mirzapore, 

2         2 

18 

5 

192 

Guzerat, 

2 

Madras, 

2 

108 

17 

224 

Vizagapatam, 

3 

40 

2 

150 

Chicacole, 

1 

3 

15 

2 

58 

Cuddapah, 

1 

6 

82 

7 

272 

Belgaum, 

2 

3 

20 

12 

445 

Bellar3^ 

3 

4 

86 

12 

417 

Bangalore, 

4 

7 

56 

12 

445 

Mysore, 

1 

12 

4 

77 

Salem, 

1 

9 

38 

6 

141 

Combacorura, 

1 

9 

327 

Cuimbatoor, 

1 

28 

30 

14 

933 

428                                                       APPENDIX. 

Stations. 

Mission- 

• Ass'ta 

1.  Nat. 

Commu- 

Schools, 

.  iScho 

aries. 

Ass'ts 

.  nic'ts. 

lars. 

Nagercoil, 

4 

19 

760 

Neyoor, 

2 

1 

6G 

65 

42 

1444 

Quilon, 

1 

9 

13 

321 

Trevandrum, 

1 

11 

13 

8 

171 

Wesletan  Missionary  Society, 

Madras, 

3 

6 

161 

4 

275 

IS'egapatam, 

3 

18 

20 

9 

267 

]\Ianaurgoody, 

2 

10 

22 

10 

454 

Bangalore  (Tamul,) 

1 

5 

US 

4 

140 

"         (Canarese,) 

o 

5 

27 

5 

202 

Mysore, 

2 

3 

1 

3 

116 

Goobbee,  (fee, 

1 

5 

8 

5 

157 

Coonghul, 

1 

5 

1 

5 

169 

Church  of  Scotland, 

Calcutta, 

8 

1021 

Madras, 

5 

300 

Bombay, 

2 

2 

395 

Ghospara, 

2 

50 

Free  Church  of  Scotland, 

Calcutta, 

5 

sev. 

sev. 

4 

2000 

Bombay, 

3 

2 

1 

1200 

Madras, 

3 

seo. 

10 

1400 

Poonah, 

3 

1 

9 

28 

10 

600 

Nagpur  and  Kampti, 

2 

2 

4 

600 

Irish  Presbyterian  Mission, 

Katiawar, 

6 

2 

Basle  Missionary  Society, 

Mangalore, 

6 

5 

250 

2 

Moolky, 

1 

40 

Dharwar, 

2 

6 

49 

412 

Hoobly, 

2 

1 

5 

7 

330 

Bettigbeny, 

2 

3 

5 

204 

Malasamoodra, 

2 

7 

2 

25 

Catery  and  Catagherry, 

3 

1 

19 

70 

Cannanore, 

1 

10 

130 

4 

130 

Tellicherry, 

4 

1 

14 

161 

12 

355 

Calicut, 

2 

13 

45 

7 

271 

Dacca, 

4 

APPENDIX. 


429 


Stations. 


Mission-  Ass'ts.  Nat. 


Dayapoor,  2 

Comilla,  2 

Berlin  Mission ary  Society, 

Ghazeepoor,  2 

Leipsic  Missioxary  Society, 

Tranquebar,  2 

Mayaveram,  2 

Poreiar,  2 

Hamburg  Missionary  Society, 

Rajamundry,  3 

Ootacamuud  (independent  miss.,)  1 
American  Board  of  Missions, 

Bombay, 

Ahmednuggur, 

Madras, 

Madm-a, 
American  Presbyterian  Board, 

Lodiana, 

Furrukhabad, 

Allahabad, 
American  Baptist  Miss.  Union, 

Nellore, 
American  Lutheran  Missions, 


11 


19 


Comrau- 
nic'ts. 

50 


Schools.  Scho- 
lars. 


60 


137   28   1010 


19 

76 


o 

13 


10 

7 
53 

10 
4 


112 

80 

202 

53 

107 
42 


11  404 

24  900 

13  400 

21  1540 

10  433 

7  398 

6  399 


10 


?50 


Guntoor 

3 

1 

5 

160 

Guyal, 

1 

6 

103 

American  Free- Will  Baptists, 

Balasore, 

1 

1 

2 

13 

3 

66 

Jellasore, 

2 

3 

16 

1 

17 

VI. 

CEYLON. 

Gospel  Propagation  SociET-i, 

Putlara, 

1 

' 

Matura, 

1 

Neura  Ellia, 

1 

^30 

1500 

Colombo, 

2 

Kandy, 

1 

30 

J 

Church  Missionary  Society, 

Cotta, 

6 

62 

104 

40 

1216 

430 

APPENDIX. 

stations. 

Mission- 
aries. 

■  Aso'ts, 

,  Nat.  Commn- 
Ass'ts.   iiic'td. 

Schools. 

,  Scho. 
la>-8. 

Kandy, 

2 

11 

28 

5 

132 

Baddagame, 

2 

6 

32 

6 

182 

Nellore, 

1 

13 

44 

12 

540 

Copay, 

1 

7 

8 

6 

287 

Chandicully, 

1 

19 

80 

11 

479 

Baptist  Missionary  Society, 

Colombo, 

1 

1 

85 

4  . 

131 

Byamville, 

1 

107 

5 

163 

Kottigahawatta, 

1 

G8 

6 

172 

Tooniboville, 

1 

17 

Weilgama, 

1 

28 

1 

25 

Hendella, 

1 

26 

Gonawella, 

1 

35 

3 

80 

Hanwella, 

1 

29 

Matura, 

1 

2 

20 

7 

121 

Kandy, 

1 

25 

9 

43 

Gahalaya,  (fee. 

3 

Matella, 

1 

15 

2 

45 

Wesleyan  Missionary  Society, 

Singhalese,  or  South  Ceylon 

district, 

12 

91 

1214 

74 

2760 

Tanuil,    or    JS^orth    Ceylon 
district, 

\ 

7 

51 

341 

29 

1365 

American  Board  of  Missions, 

Ceylon  Mission — Batticotta, 
Oodooville,  &c. 

11 

16 

22 

315 

102 

4373 

VII.    CHINA, 

SIAM, 

BURMAH,    : 

ETC. 

Church  Missionary  Society, 

China :  Shanghai, 

8 

"         Ningpo, 

2 

"         Hongkong, 

1 

"         On  tlieir  way. 

2 

London  Missionary  Society, 

China :  Hongkong, 

1 

1 

6 

1 

38 

Canton, 

3 

1 

1 

Shanghai, 

4 

2 

"         Amoy, 

3 

1 

3 

2 

27 

stations. 

General  Baptist  Missions, 

China :  Ningpo, 
Basle  Missionary  Society, 

China :  Hongkong, 
American  Board  of  Missions 

China :  Canton, 
"         Amoy, 

Fuh-Chau, 
American  Presbyterian  Board, 

China  :  Canton, 
"         Ningpo, 

Sia7n :  Bangkok, 
Am.  Prot.  Episcopal  Board. 

Chi7ia :  Shanghai, 
M.  E.  Missionary  Society, 

China :  Fuh-Chau, 
M.  E.  Church  South, 

China :  Shanghai,  2 

Am.  Baptist  Missionary  Union, 

Burmah:  Maulmain,  3 

Karen :  "  4 

Tavoy  5 

"  Sandoway,  3 

Arracan :  4 

Assam :  5 

Siam:  Bangkok,  3 

China :  Hongkong,  2 

"         Ningpo,  3 

South  Baptist  Board, 

China:  Shanghai,  3 

"         Canton,  2 

Seventh-Day  Baptists, 

China :  Shanghai,  2 

Am.  MissioNiVRY  Association, 

Siam:  Bangkok,  3 


APPENDIX. 

431 

Mission- 
aries. 

Ass'ts, 

.  Nat. 

Ass'ts 

Commu- 

.    nic'is. 

Schools. 

Scho- 
lar3. 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

24 

2 

7 

3 

5 

2 

1 

14 

2 

2 

1 

3 

1 

25 

6 

5 

2 

18 

lRD, 

3 

1 

1 

18 

8 

10 

8 

3 

TS 

2 

3 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

1 

46 

3 

3 

64 

8  13  212  8  345 

6  34  1108  9  201 

5  19  933  20  317 
2  44  4500  21  495 

2  6  56 

6  4  57  22  100 

3  4  29  2  25 


'.\ 


27 


3 

2         6 


3         1 
1 


60 


20 


VIII.    INDIAN    ARCHIPELAGO,    AUSTRALASIA,    AND   POLYNESIA. 
Church  Missionary  Society, 
JS^'eto  Zealand :  northern  district,    ^        4       99         871 
18 


432 


APPENDIX. 


Stations.                                       Mission- 
aries. 

New  Zealand :  middle  district,       8 

Ass'ts.  Nat. 
Ass'ts 

4       74 

Commu- 
nic'ts. 

1224 

Schools 

.  Scho- 
lars. 

"            eastern  district, 

4 

1 

132 

2054* 

80 

3500 

"             western  district, 
at  home, 

4 
1 

1 

156 

1064 

28 

2322 

London  Missionary  Society, 

South  Seas :  Tahiti, 

6 

1 

600 

1000 

"             Eimeo, 
"             Huahine, 

1 

1 

205 
380 

270 

•'             Raiatea, 

2 

200 

"             Tahaa, 
"             Borabora, 

235 

257 

"             Raro  tonga, 
**            Avarua, 

1 
1 

29 
170 

300 

"            Arorangi, 
*♦            Aitutaki, 

1 
1 

160 

300 

"             Mangaia, 

1 

518 

Savaii, 

3 

413 

387 

Upolu, 
Tutuila, 

8 
1 

2 

531 

833 

"             Anatom, 

2 

1 

Wesleyan  Missionary  Society, 
New  South  Wales, 
Australia  Felix, 

14 
3 

37" 
12 

South  Australia, 
Western  Australia, 

6 

1 

6 
2 

-   4210 

31 

1899 

Van  Dieman's  Land, 

1 

- 

New  Zealand, 

20 

17 

4328 

75 

2978 

Friendly  Islands, 
Feejee, 
Baptist  Missionary  Society, 
Sumatra, 

10 
6 

1 

9 
88 

7202 
1713 

49 

1960 
/ 

Java, 

1 

Rhenish  Missionary  Society, 
Borneo :  Banjarmassing, 
Palingkau, 
"          Betliabara, 
Bintang, 
Gosnee's  Missionary  Society, 

1 
1 
1 

1 

1 
1 
1 
2 

12 
6 
6 

1 
1 
1 

20 
120 
120 
ISO 

APPENDIX. 

433 

Stations                                        Missiou- 

Ass'ts, 

.  Nat.  Comrau- 

Schools.  Scbo 

ariHS. 

Ass'ta. 

iiic'ts. 

lars. 

Australia :  Zion  Hill, 

1-i 

r>UESDEN  MlSSIOXARV  SoCIETi', 

j\'^ew  Holland :  Adelaide, 

i> 

Encounter  Bay, 

2 

United  Brethren's  Missions, 

Heio  Holland:  Port  Philip, 

t> 

American  Board  of  Missions, 

Sandtt'ich  Islands :  Hawaii, 

8 

10 

■"  1 

"                 Maui, 

4 

4 

!'                 Molokai, 

2 

2 

1    - 
2 

23,102 

393 

12,012 

Oabu, 

4 

14 

Kauai, 

^ 

7 

at  home, 

2 

1 

Corresponding  members,  10. 

American  Missionary  Association, 

Sandwich  Islands  :  Makawao, 

1 

1 

IX.    NOHTH    AMERICA. 

(Chiefly  among  tht 

?  Indians.) 

CtruRCH  Missionary  Society, 

N.  W.  America  : 

Red  River, 

1 

2 

3 

331 

5 

321 

Indian  settlement. 

1 

1 

91 

2 

104 

Cumberland, 

2 

2 

61 

4 

152 

Manitoba, 

1 

1 

6 

2 

46 

Vv^ESLEYAN  Missionary  Socieit, 

West  Canada, 

50 

24 

6129 

12 

East  Canada, 

20 

3 

3849 

New  Brunswick, 

24 

2 

3725 

Newfoundland, 

13 

8 

2193 

S 

465 

Hudson's  Bay, 

2 

4 

119 

2 

54 

United  Brethren's  Missions, 

Delaware  Indians, 

5 

Clierokee  Indians, 

5 

Florida, 

2 

American  Board  of  Missions, 

Oregon, 

3 

S 

ChoctaAV, 

5 

28 

1 

1100 

G 

215 

434 

APPENDIX. 

stations. 

w 

ission- 
aritis. 

At^s'ts 

Nat. 

Asd'ts 

Commu- 
.  nic'ls. 

Schools. 

Scho- 
lars. 

Cherokee, 

5 

11 

5 

2U9 

4 

120 

Dakota, 

6 

M 

63 

3 

141 

Ojibwa, 

2 

1 

1 

25 

1 

37 

New  York, 

5 

13 

1 

227 

8 

201 

Abenaquis, 

1 

56 

Americax  Presbyterian  Board, 

Cliocta-w, 

3 

5 

1 

Chickasaw, 

2 

Creek, 

3 

7 

21 

4 

93 

Seminole, 

3 

1 

11 

Iowa  and  Sac, 

2 

2 

1 

35 

Otoe  and  Omaha, 

1 

2 

1 

35 

Chippewa  and  Ottawa, 

1 

2 

29 

2 

75 

Am.  Protestant  Episcopal  Board, 

Oneida, 

1 

1 

1 

Duck  Creek,  Wis. 

California, 

2 

M.  E.  Missionary  Society, 

Brotherton, 

1 

Y5 

Oneida, 

1 

97 

Sault  St..  Marie. 

3 

46 

1 

52 

Kewawenon, 

2 

56- 

1 

Fond  du  Lac, 

1 

8 

Sandy  Lake, 

1 

15 

1 

42 

Flint, 

3 

400 

4 

99 

Nottoway, 

1 

15 

1 

18 

Oneida  and  Onondaga, 

1 

90 

1 

St.  Rej,'is, 

1 

24 

Wyandott, 

2 

189 

M.  E.  Church  South, 

Kansas, 

^ 

Cherokees, 
Choctaws, 

- 

39 

4042 

8 

380 

Creeks, 

Am.  Baptist  Missionary  Union, 

Ojibwas, 

2 

1 

1 

45 

o 

57 

Ottawas, 

1 

1 

18 

1 

SO 

Shawanoes,  <fec.. 

3 

6 

3 

119 

2 

43 

APPENDIX. 

435 

Stations, 

Mission-  Ass'ts.  Nat. 

Commu- 

Schools. 

Scho- 

aries. 

Ass'ts. 

nic'ts. 

lars. 

Cherokees, 

3          3 

6 

1200 

1 

65 

Am.  Missionary  Association, 

Chippeways, 

6        10 

1 

X.    GREENLAND    AND    LABRADOR. 

United  Brethren's  Missions, 

Greenland:  New  Herrnhut 

4 

202 

408 

"            Lichtenfols, 

5 

161 

350 

"            Lichtenau, 

5 

259 

637 

"            Friedrichsthal, 

5 

199 

436 

"            On  their  way. 

4 

Labrador:  Nain, 

1 

81 

277 

Hoffenthal, 

1 

57 

216 

Okkak, 

7 

167 

397 

"           Hebron, 

5 

56 

336 

"           On  their  way, 

4 

XI.    WEST    INDIES    AND 

GUIANA. 

Church  Missionary  Society, 

British  Guiana  :  Barticagrove,     2         1 

4 

70 

2 

66 

Jamaica : 

1 

358 

2 

286 

London  Missionary  Society, 

Bemerara  :  Georgetown, 

2         4 

33 

3 

405 

Canal,  No.  1, 

351 

2 

137 

"             Montrose, 

335 

2 

155 

"             Lusignan, 

221 

2 

145 

"             Leguan, 

70 

1 

45 

Berhice :  New  Amsterdam, 

Lonsdale, 

1 

1 

120 

Ithaca,  (fee, 

"          Rodborough, 

50 

1 

80 

Fearn, 

341 

1 

Blyendaal, 

"          Brunswick, 

1 

"          Albion  Chapel, 

Jamaica :  First  hill. 

48 

"           Dry  harbor, 

118 

"          Ridgemount, 

1 

169 

1 

90 

436                                                         APPENDIX. 

Stations. 

Mission-  Ass'ts 

.  Nat 

Commu- 

Schools 

Scho- 

aries. 

Ass'ts.   nicts. 

lars. 

Jamaica  :  Davytown, 

1 

117 

1 

78 

Whitefield, 

1 

166 

1 

59 

Four  Patlis, 

1 

"           Chapelton, 

] 

128 

1 

98 

"           Mount  Zion, 

1 

60 

"           Kingston, 

1 

14 

"           Shortwood, 

6 

"           Morant  Bay, 

1 

90 

"           Prospect  Penn, 

1 

80 

Wesleyan  Missionary  Society, 

Antigua,  <fec., 

20 

86 

12,589 

32 

2341 

St.  Vincent's  and  Deinerara, 

20 

50 

13,542 

49 

2961 

Jamaica, 

•i8 

33 

20,717 

28 

2072 

Bahamas, 

11 

3352 

1 

50 

Hayti, 

6 

14 

387 

7 

666 

Baptist  Missionary  Society, 

Trinidad, 

5 

8 

80 

6 

181 

Bahamas, 

5 

203 

2810 

8 

511 

Hayti, 

1         3 

17 

1 

76 

Central  America, 

1         1 

United  Brethren's  Missions, 

St.  Thomas, 

St.  Croix,                                  j 

26 

3078 

St.  John,                                    , 

Jamaica, 

29 

Antigua, 

21 

St.  Kitts, 

10 

-12,437 

Barbadoes, 

9 

Tobago, 

6 

. 

Musquito  Coast, 

4 

Surinam, 

52 

1756 

M.  E.  Missionary  Society, 

Buenos  Ayres, 

1 

51 

Am.  Baptist  Free  Mission, 

Hayti, 

2         5 

42 

2 

50 

Am.  Missionary  Association, 

Jamaica, 

5       10 

4 

20C 

INDEX 


Academies,  in  the  U.  S.,  45  ;  naval, 
48  ;  military,  48. 

Africa,  political  changes  in,  22  ;  po- 
litical liberty  in,  39 ;  population 
of,  191. 

Agassiz,  114,  115,  122. 

Agriculture,  135. 

Algeria,  conquered  by  France,  17. 

Ariierica,  Central,  31,  32,  195 ; 
South,  states  of,  41,  195  ;  prog- 
ress of  rel.  liberty  in,  205. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions,  360. 

American  Missionary  Association, 
387. 

Amiens,  treaty  of,  15. 

Ampere,  99. 

Anderson,  139. 

Andral,  129. 

Appendix,  367. 

Arago,  99. 

Archipelago,  Indian,  192. 

Arkwright,  183. 

Asia,  polit.  changes  in,  21  ;  polit. 
liberty  in,  39  ;  population  of,  190. 

Associate  Ref.  Presb.  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, 388. 

Astronomy,  74. 

Australia,  political  changes  in,  23  ; 
moral  progress  of,  192. 

Bachman,  121. 
Bain,  147. 
Balbi,  196. 
Balize,  31. 

Baltic  provinces,  Christianity  in, 
225. 


Baptist  Free  Mission  Society,  389 ; 
Free-Will  Mission  Society,  390  ; 
Missionary  Board  South,  389 ; 
Missionary  Society,  American, 
292;  English,  303  ;  General,  309; 
Missionary  Union,  American, 
368. 

Baptists,  increase  of  in  the  U.  S., 
220  ;  Seventh-Day,  missions  of, 
390. 

Barlow,  95,  96,  141,  142. 

Basle  Missionary  Society,  348, 

Beaumont,  de,  116. 

Belgium,  revolution  of,  17;  prog- 
ress of  rel.  liberty  in,  208. 

Bentham,  167. 

Berghaus,  atlas  of,  92. 

Bergman,  101. 

Berlin  Missionary  Society,  357. 

Berthollet,  102,  103. 

Bertrand,  112. 

Berzelius,  109,  111. 

Bexley,  Lord,  death  of,  396. 

Bible  Societv,  British  and  Foreign, 
227,  396;- Edinburgh,  231;  Nu- 
remberg, 229;  Calcutta,  235; 
Ceylon,  235  ;  French  and  For- 
eign, 233;  American,  236;  Amer- 
ican and  Foreign,  240. 

Bible  Societies,  list  and  issues  of, 
242. 

Bible  Union,  American,  242. 

Bichat,  129. 

Biot,  93,  95,  99. 

Bhick,  100. 

Blackstone,  166. 

Bloch,  122. 


438 


INDEX. 


Bolivia,  33. 

Botany,  117. 

Boursmgaiilt,  139. 

Bowring,  Dr.,  167. 

Brandram,  Rev.  A.,  death  of,  396. 

Brazil,  34. 

Brewster,  Sir  David,  110. 

British  possessions  in  N.  A.,  30 ; 
jDopulation  of,  195  ;  progress  of 
rel.  liberty  in,  205;  of  evang. 
Chr.  in,  223.  In  Asia  and  Afri- 
ca, rel.  liberty  in,  214. 

Brogniart,  113,  114. 

Brougham.  167,  168. 

Brown,  118. 

Buchanan,  Dr.,  214. 

Buckland,  Dr.,  114,  115. 

Buenos  Ayres,  33. 

Butfon,  112. 

Barckhardt,  89. 

Canada,  projects  of  annexation  of, 
30. 

Canadian  Missionary  Soc,  French, 
293. 

Candolle,  de,  118,  119,  139. 

Canning,  174. 

Capitulations  of  the  German  prin- 
ces, 39. 

Cavendish,  100,  101. 

Caventon,  105. 

Central  Protestant  Society,  269. 

Chapman,  130. 

Chemistry,  general,  92,  97  ;  proper, 
100. 

Chevreul,  106. 

Chili,  33. 

Christendom,  enlargement  of,  189. 

Christian  Instruction  Society,  266. 

Christian  Union,  Am.  and  Foreign, 
294. 

Christianity,  Evangelical,  progress 
of,  216. 

Church  mission,  Irish,  267. 

Church  Missionary  Society,  321. 

Church  Pastoral-Aid  Society,  267. 

City  Mission,  London,  267 

Clarkson,  174. 

Colleges,  in  the  U.  S.,  47  ;  in  Can- 
ada, 48  ;  in  Mexico  and  S.  A., 
49 ;  in  Russia,  53  ;  among  the 
Waldenses,  63. 


Collins,  153. 

Colonial  Society,  266. 

Colonization  Society,  American, 
285. 

Comets,  observation  of,  77. 

Congregational  churches,  their  prog- 
ress, 220. 

Constitutional  governments  in  Eu- 
rope, 42. 

Conybeare,  114. 

Cooke,  142. 

Coulomb,  93. 

Cracow,  annexed  to  Austria,  17,  IS. 

Cromwell,  178. 

Cullen,  128. 

Cunard,  152,  153. 

Cuvier,  103,  113,  115,  120-3. 

Dalton,  102. 

Danish  possessions,  195. 

Davy,  104,  136,  139,  143. 

Defrance,  113. 

Denham  and  Clapperton,  88. 

Denmark,  rel.  liberty  in,  2 10 ;  evang 
Chr.  in,  225. 

Desmarets,  121. 

Dewees,  130. 

Domestic  missions,  Presbyterian, 
263  ;  Episcopal,  263  ;  Methodist, 
263  ;  Southern  Meth.,  264  ;  Bap- 
tist, 264;  Southern  Bap.,  264; 
Lutheran,  264;  Free-Will  Bap., 
265  ;  Seventh-Day  Bap.,  265 ; 
Ch.  of  Scotland,  268;  Free  id., 
268  ;  German,  269. 

Dresden  Missionary  Society,  358. 

Dumas,  130. 

Dumont,  167. 

Dupin,  130. 

Dutch  possessions  in  the  Ind.  Ar- 
chip.,  24. 

Dutrochet,  129. 

Edinburgh  Missionary  Society,  340 

Education,  progress  of,  43. 

Education  Society,  Am.,  276;  at 
the  West,  Society  for  the  Pro- 
motion of,  277  ;  Presbyterian 
Board  of,  277  ;  Irish  Ciun-ch  So- 
ciety, 278  ;  Scheme  of  the  Ch.  of 
Scotland,  279 ;  Free  Ch.,  279. 

Edwards,  216. 


439 


Electricity,  92. 

Epinus,  93. 

Episcopal  Church,  Protestant,   its 

increase,  220. 
Episcopal,    Protestant,   Board    of 

Domestic  Missions,  263  ;  Foreign, 

378. 
Equator,  33. 
Erskine,  167. 
Esquirol,  130. 
Europe,  population  of,  190. 
Evangelical  Society,  Irish,  265  ;  of 

Geneva,   292;   of  France,  292; 

Foreign,  293. 
Evans,  149. 
Exploring  expeditions,  86,  90. 

Faraday,  98,  99. 

Feejee,  193. 

Finland,  evang.  Chr.  in,  225. 

Fitch,  149. 

Forbes,  Prof.,  119. 

Foreign  Evangelical  Society,  293. 

France,  first  revolution  of,  1 3  ;  sec- 
ond, 17  ;  third,  18  ;  progress  of 
polit.  liberty  in,  39 ;  religious, 
207. 

Franklin,  Dr.,  92. 

French  Missionary  Society,  344. 

Friends,  increase  of  in  America, 
222. 

Fulton,  149, 150,  183. 

Galvanism,  97. 

Gauss,  96. 

Gay  Lussac,  102. 

Geography,  86  ;  Physical,  90. 

Geology,  112. 

Germany,  free  cities  of,  38  ;  rel. 
liberty  in,  209  ;  evang.  Chr.  in, 
217,  223,  224. 

Glasgow  Missionary  Society,  340. 

Gosner's  Missionary  Society,  358. 

Gospel  Propagation  Society,  in 
New  England,  297  ;  in  Scotland, 
298;  in  England,  297,  300. 

Grande  Eigne  Mission,  293. 

Granada,  New,  32. 

Great  Britain,  progress  of  polit.  lib- 
erty in,  37  ;  religious,  207. 

Greece,  revolution  of,  16  ;  rel.  lib- 
erty in,  213. 

18* 


Grey,  Earl,  173. 
Guianas,  the,  84. 
Guyot,  Prof.,  92. 
Gustavus  Adolphus  Society,  209. 

Halley,  95. 

Hamburg  Missionary  Society,  358. 

Hausteen,  96. 

Haiiy,  110. 

Henry,  Prof.,  141. 

Hill,  Rowland,  179. 

Hitchcock,  116. 

Hoe,  187. 

Holland,  polit.  liberty  in,  38  ;  re- 
ligious, 208  ;  evang.  Chr.  in,  224. 

Home,  Sir  E.,  113. 

Home  Missionary  Society,  Am., 
259  ;  British,  265. 

Home  Mission,  Eng.  Baptist,  267  ; 
Am.  Bapt.,  264. 

Home  Missions,  German  Com.  of, 
269. 

Homer,  130. 

Hope,  129. 

Hosack,  130. 

House,  144. 

Hull,  149. 

Humboldt,  A.,  89,  91,  92,  96,  116, 
118. 

Hunter,  128. 

Hungary,  revolution  of,  19,  20; 
evang.  Chr.  in,  225. 

Hutton,  112,  156. 

Indians,  North  American,  27. 
Interests  of  Humanity,  moral  and 

religious,  393. 
Italy,  rel.  liberty  in,  212. 

Jackson,  130. 

Jenner,  130. 

Jews,  Eondon  Society,  391 ;  Brit- 
ish, 391  ;  American,  392. 

Johnson,  Prof.,  atlas  of,  92,  138. 

Johnston,  139. 

Jones,  129. 

Journals,  law  and  medical,  in  the 
U.  S.,  64. 

Jurisprudence,  history  of,  166. 

Jussieu,  116. 

Kane,  139. 


440 


Laing,  Major,  83. 

Lamarck,  113,  120,  123. 

Laplace,  93. 

Lavoisier.  101. 

Leipsic  Missionary  Society,  358. 

L«'ii>es,  achromatic,  76. 

Liberty,  political,  progress  of,  o1  ; 

religious,  202. 
Liebig,  107-8,  128,  138-9. 
LinnaHis,  116,118,  120,  123. 
Locke,  Dr.,  147. 

London  Missionary  Society,  311. 
Loumis,  Prof.,  1-47. 
Luneville,  Treaty  of,  14,  15. 
Lutlieran  Missionary  Society,  388. 
Lyell,  117. 

Mackintosh,  167-8. 
Magazines  in  the  U.  S.,  62. 
Magnetism,  94. 
Marquesas,  24. 
Mazzini,  19. 
JMantell,  Dr.,  114. 
Mechanic  arts,  182. 
]\ledicine,  128. 

Mehemet  Ali  invades  Turkey,  17. 
Menai  Straits,  186. 
Meteorology,  83. 

Methodist  Episc.  Missionary  Soci- 
ety, 383  ;  South,  389. 
Meiliodists,  increase  of  in  the  U.  S., 

222. 
Mexico,  war  with  the  U.  S.,  29; 

l)olit.  events  in,  31 ;  rel.  liberty 

in,  205. 
IV\\\,  167. 

]\liller,  149;  Dr.,  126 
Mineralogy,  109. 
JMissionary  efforts,  previous  to  the 

19th  century,  395. 
Mississinpi  valley,  population   of, 

1 94.  ' 
Mitchell,  Prof.  144. 
JSlirscherlich,  111. 
Mohammedanism,  198. 
Moravians,  increase  of  in  the  U.  S., 

222. 
Morse,  Prof,  142-3,  146. 
Mosotti,  93-4. 
Mulder,  139. 
Mural  circles,  76. 


Xapoleon,  his  career,   14,  15,  169- 

171. 
Navigation,  steam,  149. 
Nebulae,  resolution  of,  80. 
Netherlands    Missionary   Society, 

358. 
Newspapers,  in  the  U.  S.,  58  ;  Brit 

possess.,  64 ;  Mexico  and  S.  A., 

65  ;  England,    65  ;  Ireland,    66  ; 

Scotland,  66. 
Nicaragua,  31. 
Norway,  rel.  liberty  in,  210  ;  evau. 

Chr.  in,  225. 
Norway  Missionary  Society,  358. 
Novara,  battle  of,  18. 

Observatories,  75,  81,  85. 
O'Connell,  174. 
Oersted,  98,  142. 
Oken,  Prof.,  121. 
Optics.  81. 
Orbit  of  the  sun,  80. 
Owen,  121. 

Pale}^  166. 

Pallas,  112. 

Paj^al  nations,  their  relative  influ- 
ence, 199  ;  evangelization  of,  290. 

Paraguay,  34. 

Park,  88" 

Pay  en,  139. 

Peel,  172-3. 

Pelletier,  105. 

Periodical  Literature,  in  Great 
Britain  and  Leland,  67. 

Peru,  33. 

Phihppines,  193. 

Physick,  130. 

Pius  IX.,  18. 

Pitt,  172. 

Planets,  newly  discovered,  76,  78  ; 
perturbations  of,  78. 

Poisson,  93,  95. 

Poland,  revolution  of,  17  ;  evang. 
Chr.  in,  225. 

Polarization,  theory  of,  82. 

Political  changes,  13;  in  Europe, 
1 5 ;  Asia,  &c.,  15;  N.  America, 
24;  S.  America,  32  ;  W.  IndiOvS, 
35. 

Polynesia,  192. 


441 


Population  of  Christendom,  189; 
of  the  world.  196-7. 

Portugal,  rel.  liberty  in,  211. 

Presbyterian  Board  of  Domestic 
Missions,  263  ;  Foreign,  378. 

Presbyterians,  increase  of  in  Amer- 
ica, 221. 

Press,  freedom  of  the,  57  ;  in  Scan- 
dinavia, 67  ;  Holland,  168  ;  the 
U.  S.,  57  ;  Germany,  68  ;  France, 
68;  Spain  and  Portugal,  69; 
Italy,  69  ;  Greece,  70  ;  Turkey, 
7U;  Eussia,  70;  India,  71  ;  Chi- 
na, 71  ;  Africa,  72 ;  in  the  islands, 
72  ;  in  Australia,  72. 

Priestley,  100,  101. 

Protestant  nations,  their  relative  in- 
fluence. 200. 

Protestant  Society,  American,  293. 

Protestantism,  "  decline"  of,  200. 

Prussia,  its  constitution,  20. 

RadclifFe,  139. 
Ragged  School  Union,  278. 
Raih'oads,  154. 
Reviews,  in  the  U.  S.,  63. 
Rhenish  Missionary  Society,  846. 
Ritter,  Carl,  91. 
Robinson,  Dr.,  89. 
Rogers,  Prof.,  115. 
Roman  Republic,  19. 
Romilly,  167. 
Ross,  Capt.,  96. 
Rumsey,  149. 
Russell,  173. 

Russia,  invasion  of  Turkey  by,  16. 
Russian  provinces  in  N".  A.,   195  ; 
rel.  liberty  in,  211. 

Sabbath-school  Society,  Massachu- 
setts, 275. 

Sardinia,  a  constitutional  state,  19. 

Satellites,  newly  discovered,  76. 

Saussure,  112. 

School  Society,  Home  and  Colo- 
nial, 278. 

Schools,  common  and  public,  in  the 
U.  S.,  43 ;  infant,  45 ;  Lancas- 
terian,  45 ;  manual  labor,  45 ; 
secondary,  45  ;  Normal,  45  ;  law, 
47 ;  medical,  48. 


Schools,  in  Mexico  and  S.  A.,  48  ; 
in  Scotland,  49  ;  England  and 
Wales,  50  ;  Ireland,  51  ;  Prussia, 
51;  Austria,  51;  Holland,  51; 
Denmark,  52;  France,  52;  Bel- 
gium, 52  ;  Norway  and  Sweden, 
52  ;  Russia,  52;  Spain  and  Por- 
tugal, 53  ;  Italy,  53  ;  among  the 
Waldenses,  53 ;  in  Turkey,  53  • 
Greece,  54. 

Schools,  secondary,  in  Europe,  54. 

Schools,  mission,  56. 

Science,  historical  sketch  of,  74; 
moral  aspects  of,  126  ;  applied, 
128. 

Scotland,  missions  of  the  Ch.of,  341 ; 
Free  Ch.,  342. 

Serturner,  105. 

Sharp,  174. 

Silliman,  130. 

Simpson,  130. 

Sinclair,  Sir  J.,  139. 

Smith,  Wm.,  113;  the  missionary, 
174. 

Social  progress  in  the  last  half-cen- 
tury, 166. 

Society  Islands,  24. 

Societies,  for  the  diffusion  of  the 
Scriptures,  227  ;  for  the  circula- 
tion of  religious  books,  247  ;  for 
home  evangelization,  259 ;  Sun- 
day-school, 272  ;  education,  276. 

Spain,  its  cortes  and  constitution 
abolished,  16 ;  rel.  liberty  in, 
211. 

Speed,  147. 

Sprengel,  137. 

Stahl,  100. 

Stars,  fixed,  79. 

Stavanger  Missionary  Society,  358 

Steamboats,  149. 

Steffens,  91. 

Stevenson,  154. 

Stockholm  Missionary  Society,  358. 

Storms,  theories  of,  85. 

Strauss,  123. 

Sunday-school  Institute,  English 
Ch.,  273. 

Sunday-school  Society,  English, 
272 ;  Irish,  273, 

Sunday-school  Union,  English,  272 ; 
American,  274  ;  Episcopal,  274. 


442 


INDEX. 


Sweden,  polit.  liberty  in,  38  ;  re- 
ligious, 211 ;  evani^.  Chr.  in,  225. 

Switzerland,  polit.  liberty  in,  38 ; 
religious,  2(J9  ;  evang.  Chr.  in, 
226. 

Symington,  149. 

Tabular  View  of  Missions,  by  soci- 
eties, 897  ;  by  countries  and  sta- 
tions, 398. 

Telegraphs,  141. 

Temperance  Reformation,  in  the  U. 
S.,  280;  in  the  Brit,  possess., 
282-3  ;  in  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land, 282  ;  on  the  Continent,  283. 

Tennent,  216. 

Tilsit,  treaty  of,  15. 

Toulouse  Religious  Book  Society, 
252. 

Tract  Society,  Religious,  229,  247  ; 


Paris, 


Rotterdam, 


Lower  Saxony,  252  ;  Hamburg, 
253 ;     Berhn,    253  ;    St.    Peters- 
burg, 253;  American,  254. 
Turkey,  rel.  liberty  in,  213. 

Undulations,  theory  of,  82. 

United  Brethren,  missions  of,  351. 

United  States,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  century,  24;  acquisition  of 
Louisiana  by,  25  ;  of  Florida,  25  ; 
admission  of  Texas  into,  25 ;  ac- 
quisition of  New  Mexico  and 
California  by,  26 ;  their  present 
area,  26 ;  states  added  to,  26  ; 
population  of,  27 ;  Congresses 
of,  27  ;  wars  with  foreign  pow- 


ers, 28-9  ;  with  the  Indians,  29 ; 
rebellions  in,  29  :  progress  of  re- 
ligious liberty  in,  202  :  of  evang. 
Chr.,  218. 

Universities  in  Scotland,  50 ;  in 
Greece,  54 ;  in  England,  54. 

Uruguay,  33. 

Vaillant,  122. 
Vauquelin,  101. 
Venezuela,  32. 
Verneuil,  de,  115. 

Wagner,  129. 

Waldenses,  rel.  liberty  among,  212. 

Warren,  Dr.,  130. 

Watt,  183. 

Weissul,  110. 

Wellington,  173. 

Werner,  109,  112,  113. 

Wesley,  216. 

Wesleyan  Missionary  Society,  330 

Westein  Hemisphere,  population 
of,  196. 

West  Indies,  political  changes  in, 
35  ;  population  of,  195  ;  prog- 
ress of  rel.  liberty  in,  206. 

Wheatstone,  142. 

Whewell,  Prof,  82,  96,  105. 

Whitefield,  216. 

Whitney,  160,  183. 

Wilkes,  116. 

Williams,  129. 

Yucatan,  31. 
Zoology,  120. 


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